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I 


THESUPERNATURAL IN THETRAGEDIES 
OF EURIPIDES 

AS ILLUSTRATED IN PRAYERS, CURSES, OATHS, 

ORACLES, PROPHECIES, DREAMS 

AND VISIONS 


ERNEST HEINRICH KLOTSCHE 


A THESIS 

Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate College in the 

University of Nebraska in Partial Fulfillment of 

Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of 

Philosophy, Department of Greek 

History and Literature 


LI.\CX)LX, XKBRASKA 
March i8, 1918. . , 


PRESS OF 

THE NEW ERA PRINTING COMPANY 

LANCASTER, PA. 


MAI 


PREFACE. 

To my esteemed instructor in Greek and Sanskrit Literature, 
Professor J. T. Lees, Ph.D., Head of Department of Greek His- 
tory and Literature in the L^niversity of Nebraska, who has aided 
me especially in the composition of this thesis, I owe a great debt 
of gratitude. He has suggested the subject, and to his valuable 
counsel and assistance important corrections and improvements 
are due. 

I have further consulted in one way or other nearly all the 
books and monographs mentioned in the bibliography. Consid- 
erable use has been made of the following works : J. Adam : " Re- 
ligious Teachers of Greece"; C. H. Moore: "The Religious 
Thought of the Greeks " ; C. F. Whitmore : " The Supernatural 
in Tragedy " ; W. Nestle : " Euripides, der Dichter der griechi- 
schen Aufklarung"; P. Decharme : " Euripide et I'esprit de son 
theatre." 

In quoting from the original I have availed myself of the Teub- 
ner text. Deviations from this have been noted where they occur. 
Excepting some of the fragments the translations are by A. S. 
Way, in the Loeb Classical Library, Heinemann, 1912. 


K 


4?>5628 


CONTENTS. 

Page 

Introduction i 

The Prayers, Curses, Oaths, Oracles, Prophecies, Dreams, and Visions 

in the Alcestis 4 

Medea 8 

Hippolytus 14 

Hecuba 23 

Andromache 26 

Ion 28 

SuppHces 33 

Heracleidae 36 

Hercules Furens 37 

Iphigenia in Tauris 41 

Troades 51 

Helena 56 

Phoenissae 61 

Electra 68 

Orestes 71 

Iphigenia at Aulis 76 

Bacchse 79 

Cj'clops 83 

Fragments 84 

Summary Results of the Preceding Discussion 89 

Index of References 100 

Bibliography 105 


THE SUPERNATURAL IN THE TRAGEDIES OF 
EURIPIDES AS ILLUSTRATED IN PRAYERS, 
CURSES, OATHS, ORACLES, PROPH- 
ECIES, DREAMS, AND VISIONS 

BY ERNEST HEINRICH KLOTSCHE 

The spirit of the Greek drama is preeminently reHgious. Not 
only in its beginnings, but throughout the most flourishing period 
of its history, it was in intimate connection with the supernatural 
which entered into its very heart, and constituted one of its essen- 
tial elements. The theatrical representations at Athens, even in 
the days of Euripides and Aristophanes, were constituent parts 
of a great religious celebration. 

The presence of the supernatural element in Greek tragedy 
involved a definite attitude toward it on the part of each indi- 
vidual dramatist. The strength of personality which .^schylus, 
Sophocles, and Euripides possessed made them voice their own 
conceptions concerning the supernatural. 

^schykis, himself profoundly religious, accepted the popular 
religion unhesitatingly trying to reconcile it with the more ad- 
vanced conceptions of his time, by purifying its grossness and 
harmonizing its various inconsistencies, thus imparting to the re- 
ligion a new intense vitality. The moral government of all things, 
the misery and mystery of sin, the power and mysterious dealings 
of the gods, their terrible and inscrutable wrath, their certain ven- 
geance upon sinners form the background of his thought. A 

I 


sublime imagination lifts him to a region where tl 
of the universe seem to be close about him. No 
passed him in his power of creative imagination 
■ brings a whole world of mythical figures into being 
ing impressiveness he presents the dim borderlan 
material and the spiritual. With dreams and vi 
habitually and brings them into his dramatic fa 
summate skill. At times in his reference to the d 
Zeus he almost approaches a stern and sombr 
" One God above all, who directs all, who is the 
(Ag., 163, 1485). 

Sophocles, on the other hand, has no profound 
supernatural, but accepts it as a traditional feati 
Though he is by no means unconscious of the discc 
in human life and destiny, he firmly believes in th( 
the justice of the Gods, not attempting to solve a ] 
odicy. His interest is primarily in the conflict of h 
set before us in definite characters. Behind the n 
however, are the gods, and with an original and 
the supernatural elements he makes them really cc 
whole design, without allowing them to overpov 
participants. 

A man of a different spirit, and, although cont 
Sophocles, a man of a dift'erent world, is Eurip 
world was dying, the new world was not yet born, 
of intellectual growth, but of religious decay, w 
were disengaging themselves from their tradition 
popular religion — the very foundation of tragedy- 
dermined. Scepticism had begun to be busy w: 
which that religion consecrated. Neither Gods n 
mandcd all the old unquestioning faith, and yet 1 
still kept a real hold on the minds even of the n" 
Under these circumstances the duty of the tragic [ 
some difficulty, especially as far as the handling 
natural in tragedy was concerned. Sophocles rer 
the old faith in the Gods of his age and nation pr 
ward acquiescence in the traditional beliefs, while 


p ¥. ,fe i 11: * 6. » » *.fjl.1tt *■ 


The Supernatural in the Tragedies of Euripides 3 

preaching tradition with the liberal frankness of the new age, is 
by no means favorable to the established religion which had served 
the two older dramatists so well ; and yet in his tragedies super- 
natural manifestations play just as important a part as in those 
of his predecessors. This fact occasions surprise, indeed, and 
certainly demands discussion. 

It is peculiarly difficult to estimate correctly the moral and re- 
ligious views of Euripides. He is an elusive poet, not easy to 
comprehend. Many even of his fellow-countrymen failed to un- 
derstand him, and modern critics, since the middle of the eight- 
eenth century until a recent period, have generally considered 
him not only a bad poet, but a bad man ; and yet no other Greek 
poet, except Homer, has made so deep and lasting an impression 
on ancient and modern literature. Despite the jibes of Aris- 
tophanes who declared that Euripides' poetry died along with 
him (Frogs, 869), and vehemently refused him recognition even 
in Hades, Euripides after his death was universally regarded as 
a great poet. The Greek tragic poets of the succeeding centuries 
patterned their plays upon his. At Rome he was early made 
known through the translations of Ennius and had a marked in- 
fluence upon the Roman drama. Poets in all ages have thought 
well of him and he has generally been the favorite with modern 
authors and dramatists far more than .Eschylus and Sophocles. 
Milton felt and expressed great admiration for him. Racine, 
Alfieri, Browning, Goethe, and others were influenced by the 
ancient poet and imitated him. He was not only a favorite with 
the masses in ancient times, he appeals to the reader of to-day as 
well ; and this fact is in part doubtless due to his modern treat- 
ment of the same human interests that are alive for us to-day. 

Concerning the religious sentiments of Euripides the late Dr. 
Verrall in his " Euripides the Rationalist," " Essays on Four 
Plays of Euripides," and " The Bacchantes of Euripides " has at 
great length and with much subtlety made an ingenious attempt 
to prove that Euripides was a destructive thinker, " a sceptic of 
the aggressive type," who wrote his plays with the intention of 
attacking the traditional religion, but in order to avoid posing as 
an open enemy to the state religion, attempted to accomplish his 


Ernest Hcinrich Klotsche 
4 

ends by handling the supernatural elements as uneonvincing or 
even ridiculous ^^^^^^ ^^ ^,^ ^ods in an unfa- 

vorl^: U M, andLs no real -rence for then, b.^^^^^ '« 

— ft;::5^3r^:t— .h: 

^lu^r " 1 e n st relr^dhere's to the ntethod of using the 

s.fXu^a; ^-p'f •'^:;: -n:r;indr::""a;7.::ii;" 
rrhiaCfdiL:^:: :«r orrect. ^^^i^::^:^:, 

to the religious ideas of his time. ^^^^ 

, 'TJ^:^7^^:^"^^^^^'>^ - super- 
nal in hi'strai'dies as ilLtrated in prayers, curses, oaths, 

the ei^nieci f -; „ | -^^i^ ^as come down to us 

::':;■ irlle^ ;" is"rah™st umversalK. reeogni.ed as 


Spurious 

I. The Alcestis 


The earliest of the exiant plays of Euripides, the " Alcestis," 
iiie earnebL u ■ ,^q v C ^<^ the fourth play of a 

'^xrr:^"rl,t:t:xri:':;x .ece, .r ....c 

seu'racHficTher conjugal love and .-;^;;riy ca. are e^^^^^^^^ 
^-r=Xt^::--,^;-:;;a„athehonte: 

Ale. 163-69: , n. 

8k<T^oiv\ h^ yap tpxof^ai Kara X'^oros, 
rk.' bp<i>ai'd'<Tai rapid, Kal rw ptv 4>i->^V>' 


The Supernatural in the Tragedies of Euripides 5 

avi^ev^ov a\oxoi', rfj 5e yevvaiov ivoaiv. 
H-r]8' clxTTTip avTcbp 17 TeKova aTr6Wvfj.a(. 
{^avtlv adopovs TralSaj, dXX' evdainovas 
tv yfi -KaTpi^q. rtpirvov tKTv\fiaai filov. 

" Queen, for I pass beneath the earth, I fall 
Before thee now, and nevermore, and pray: — 
Be mother to my orphans : mate with him 
A loving wife, with her a noble husband. 
Nor as their mother dieth, so may they. 
My children, die untimely, but with weal 
In the home-land fill up a life of bliss." 

It is worth noticing that the poet does not expose Alcestis to 
view in the act of prayer, as though the situation were too solemn 
to be exhibited before the eyes of the spectators. We learn Al- 
cestis' prayer from her handmaid who describes in most affecting 
terms her mistress's farewell to the beloved home. 

A somewhat different mode of handling the supernatural ele- 
ment is found in a prayer of the chorus representing the friends 
of Admetus : 


Ale. 213-25 


ICO Zeu, Tis av ttcos wopos irq. 
ykvoir' K. T. \. 
wva^ Ilatd;', 

e^ei'pe p.Tjxo-t'V'^ tiu' 'A5fj.riT0> KaKcov. 
TTopi^e dij TToptfe. Kal irapos yap 
TOL'6' e4>evpts, Kal vvv 
XvTTjpios tK xiavarov yevov, 
<f)6viov 5' aTTOiravaov Kihav. 

"O Zeus, for our lords is there naught but despair? 
No path through the tangle of evils, no loosing of chains that 

have bound them? 
. . . yet uplift we in prayer 
Our hands to the Gods, for that power from the days everlasting 

hath crowned them. 
O Healer-king, 
Find thou for Admetus the balm of relief, for the captive 

deliverance ! 
Vouchsafe it, vouchsafe it, for heretofore 
Hast thou found out a way ; even now once more 
Pluck back our beloved from Hades' door. 
Strike down Death's hand red-reeking with gore ! " 


6 Ernest Ilcinrich Klotsclic 

We should expect that Admetus' friends having heard of the 
predicted fate of Alcestis, instead of praying desperately : "O 
Zeus! O Healer-king!" would have acted and hurried to rescue 
the queen from her fate and tell her and Admetus that the " fatal 
day " will bring no further harm whatever. Their w^y of acting 
can be explained only by assuming that they were entirely under 
the influence of the traditional belief in oracular prediction. 

A notable specimen of vision is found in the following verses 
where Alcestis in language exceedingly pathetic describes the 
apparition of Charon and Hades : 

Ale. 252-6.? : 

opij) 8'i.KCjinrov bpw crKa.4)OS 

veKvcof 5i TropOfievs 

itxcov x'fp' iirl kovtCo Xapcoi/ //' tjStj KoKti; k. t. X. 

ayet n' d7et fie tls, ovx opas; 

vfKvcov es avXav 

vtt' 64>pv(TL Kvavavykcri /SXtTrwf TTTipoiTos At5as 

Ti perils; fjiides. o'iav 

bdov a btCkaLOTara irpo^alvui. 

" I see the boat with the oars twin-sweeping, 
And his hand on the pole as in haste aj'^e keeping, 
Charon, the Ferryman calleth, 'What ho, wilt thou linger and 

linger? 
Hasten, — 'tis thou dost delaj' me ! ' he crieth with beckoning 

finger. 

One halcth me — lialctii me hence to the mansion 

Of the dead ! — dost thou mark not the darkling expansion 

Of the pinions of Hades, the blaze of his eyes 'neath their 

caverns out-glaring! , 

What wouldst thou ? — Unhand me ! — In anguish and pain by 

what path am I faring ! " 

A "vision " is that which is seen otherwise than by the ordinary 
sight ; it may be an imaginary, supernatural, or prophetic sight. 
In this case it is an imaginary vision. While none of those pres- 
ent are aware of the apparition. Alcestis hears the Ferryman call 
her and sees winged Hades beckon. Such fancies are nothing 
unusual in a woman who is approaching inevitable death and has 
gone already through a prolonged series of fatiguing devotions 
and harrowing farewells, from weakness to exhaustion, and 


Tlie Supernatural in the Tragedies of Euripides y 

finally to hallucination. Dying persons often imagine that they 
see flitting forms, and appeal to others whether they are not 
equally conscious of their presence, as Alcestis asks: ovx opas; 
(259). That the poet, however, uses such visions as superna- 
tural manifestations may be demanded by the traditional belief 
and dramatic propriety. Such supernatural manifestations, which 
often recur in connection with tragedy, always appeal to an in- 
terest in the unseen deeply rooted in human nature. Even in the 
most sceptical lingers a certain respect for such matters. 
In the prologue Apollo proclaims an oracle of the Parcse : 

Ale. 12-14: 

ASfJiriTOV aSrjv tov -irapavriK eK<t)vyeii', 
aXXof diaWa^avra rots Karcj vtKpbv. 

" Admetus shall escape the imminent death 
If he for ransom gives another life." 

and making use of his prescience he predicts that Heracles shall 
rescue the heroic Alcestis from the grave and the arm of death, 
thus revealing the denouement of the drama : 

Ale. 65-69: 

f) ixrjv av irelffeL Kalirep oj/uos wj' iiyav 
Tolos ^eprjTos elffi irpbs bbfxovs O-vijp, 
Eupi;(r??etos ivkfjixpavTOs iinreLov fxtra 
oxv/J'C- Qpv''^V^ *'^' Tbiruiv Svaxn-fj^^pcou, 
8s bri ^euco^eis rolad' kv ^ kbp.r)rov bbp.ois 
0lq. ywaiKa Tfji'Se a' k^aLprja-eraL. 

" Surely thou shalt forbear, tliough ruthless thou. 
So mighty a man to Pheres' hall shall come, 
Sent of Eurystheus forth, the courser-car 
From wintry-dreary lands of Thrace to bring. 
Guest-welcomed in Admetus' palace here 
By force yon woman shall he wrest from thee." 

The fulfillment of this prophecy, namely the return of Alcestis 
from death to life is the central theme of the play. But the pre- 
diction itself is of religious importance ; it appeals to the re- 
ligious instinct and offers an assurance that the just are in the 
hands of God. 


|^^Hlzg^-.a.Ji>-*^^'.UtjMl^BB^M| 


8 Ernest HciuncJi Klotsche 

2. The Medea 

The "Medea" was acted in 431 B.C. We may grant that the 
play is not a faultless one, but even the detractors of Euripides 
cannot deny it the excellence of true tragic pathos. The char- 
acter of the heroine of the play, her ardent temperament, her 
proud and daring spirit are also portrayed in the prayers and 
curses which the poet puts into her mouth. 

Medea in utter distress imprecates death upon herself : 

Med. 144-48: 

atal, 

6id nov Ke^aXds <^X6^ ovpavLa 
Pairj ri 8k not ^rjv en Kkp5os; 
(peii 4>^v' ^avarw KaToKvaalp-av 
Piorav arvyepav ■KpoXnrovcra.. 

" Would God that the flame of Hghtning from heaven descending, 

descending, 
Might burn through mine head ! — for in Hving wherein any 

more is my gain? 
Alas and alas ! Would God I might bring to an ending, an 

ending. 
The life that I loathe, and behind me might cast all its burden 

of pain 1 " 

The chorus on comprehending the cause of her distress appeal 
to the Gods and speak words of consolation : 

Med. 149 flf. : 

ates, w ZeD koI 7a koL 4>ibs, 
axo-f o'iav a dvaravos 
jitXiTfL vvjjL(t)a; K. T. X. 

" O Zeus, Earth, Light, did }-e hear her, 
How waileth the woe-laden breath 
Of the bride in unhappiest plight? etc." 

Then IMedea appeals to Artemis in the matter of her marriage 
imprecating destruction and ruin upon Jason, her forsworn 
husband : 

Med. 160-65 : 

d) fxeydXa Gtjui Kai' ttotvI Aprtpi, 
Xevacrtd^ a irdtrxw, pteyaXoLs opKOLs 
tvorjaaptva tov Karaparou 


Tlie Supernatural in the Tragedies of Euripides 9 

Troffiv; 6v TTOT 670) uvfKpap t effiSoi/j. 
avTols ixeXadpois 8LaKi>aioiJ.tvovs, 
oi y' e/xk -wpoadtv To\fub(T a8t.Kelv. 

"O Lady of Justice, O Artemis' Majesty, see it, O see it — 
Look on the wrongs I suffer, by oaths everlasting who tied 
The soul of mine husband, that never from the curse he might 

free it, nor free it 
From your vengeance ! O may I behold him at last, even him 

and his bride, 
Them, and these halls therewithal, all shattered in ruin, in 


Cf. also Med. 332: 

Zed, fii] \adot. ae rcbvd' oj airtos KaKcbv. 

" Zeus, Zeus, forget not him who is cause of this ! " 

After a bitter reproach against her husband's unmanhness 
Medea expostulates with Zeus : 

Med. 516-19: 

0} Zev, tL 8ri xpv(Tov /xev os ki/SStjXos V 
TeKfxripl avOpioTroLaiv ibiracras (Ta4)r\, 
avhpihv 5' OTW XPV '''O" xaKov 5tet5«^at, 
ovdels x°-P'^'^''"nP (■p.Tr't(f)VKe (Tcoyuart; 

" O Zeus, ah wherefore hast thou given to men 
Plain signs for gold which is but counterfeit. 
But no assay-mark nature graven shows 
On man's form, to discern the base withal?" 

The chorus fully aware that the fatal act of Medea's killing 
her own children cannot be prevented by any human interference, 
call on the holy Earth which is about to sustain the pollution of 
blood, and the Sun, that grandsire of the wretched woman not to 
allow her to murder her children : 

Med. 1251-60: 

tw Va Ti Kol Trap.4>aT)% 

clktIs 'AeXioUj KariSer ISere rav 

oXontvav yvpalKa. irpiv 4>oiviav 

TtKfots irpoff^aXelv x^P o-vtoktovov; k. r. X. 

" O Eearth, O all-revealing splendour 

Of the Sun, look down on a woman accurst. 
Or ever she slake the murder-thirst 
Of a mother whose hands would smite the tender 
Fruit of her womb. 


lO Ernest Heinrich Klotsche 


But tliou. O heaven-begotten glory, 
Restrain her, refrain her: the wretched, the gory 
Erinys by demons dogged, we implore thee, 
Snatch thou from yon home ! etc." 

An earnest and impassioned invocation of the Gods is made by 
Jason on account of his children nnuTlercd by Medea : 

Med. 1405-07: 

ZeD, rdS' o.Kovtis uis air tkavv 6 iJ.td\ 

old T€ iraaxofii" ^ Trjs fivaapas 

Kal ■7raL5o4>6i'ov Trja5e \eaifqs; k. t. X. 

"O Zeus, dost thou hear it, how spurned I am? — 
What outrage I suffer of yonder abhorred 
Child-murderess, j-onder tigress-dam? etc." 

On Medea he pronounces an imprecation: 

Med. 1327-29: 

'ipyov rXdcra bvaae^kaTarov. o\olo. 
" Thus hast thou wrought . . . 
Now ruin seize thee ! " 

Med. laSa-QO: 

dXXd ff' 'EptvLis oXecreie rkKvuiv (jjovla re Aik-tj. 

" Now the Fury-avenger of children smite thee. 
And Justice that looketh on murder requite thee ! " 

A curse presupposes the supernatural as well as a prayer. A 
curse is a wish expressed in words that evil may befall a certain 
person. The wish may be expressed by a God or spirit, in which 
case it is wish, will, and fact in one; or it may be an appeal to 
another supernattu-al person to execute it. Euripides makes 
dramatic use of curse? not only because they were survivals from 
the past, but also because the supernatural element connected 
with imprecations had evidently still a hold upon the popular 
imagination. 

Wherever reference to oath is made in our play the religious 
binding force of the oath is assumed and the perjurer considered 
a cursed villain. ]Medea is amazed at the perjurer Jason: 


The Supcrnainral in the Tragedies of Euripides ii 

Med. 492-95 : 

opKOiv de 4>pov5ri -k'kttis, ovh «x'^ y.ai^eiv 
fi tJeoiis ^'Ojuifets robs tot ovk apxttv tTL, 
fi Kaiva. Kelcri&at ^kaixi api)p6}irois to. vvi>. 
iwti avfOLcrOa y' els tfi ovk tvopKos oiu. 

" But faith of oaths hath vanished. I know not 
Whether thou deem'st the olden Gods yet rule, 
Or that new laws are now ordained for men. 
For thine heart speaks thee unto me forsworn." 

Indignant at Jason's perfidy the chorus exclaims : 

Med. 439-40: 

'EXXdSt TO, /x€7dX^ ixkvtL, aWepia 5' di'tTrro. 
"Disannulled is the spell of the oath: no shame for the broken 
troth 
In Hellas the wide doth remain, but heavenward its flight hath 
it taken." 

At the conclusion of the play Medea declares Jason as forsaken 
by the Gods, who will not heed his request because he is for- 


Med. 1391-92: 

TLS 8e kXvu aov i?e6s rj daifiuv, 
Tov ^evdopKov Kal ^ewaTraTov; 

" What God or what spirit will heed thy request, 
Caitiff forsworn, who betrayest the guest?" 

Medea demands an oath of ^-Egeus in order to attain a safe 
refuge after having carried her designs into effect : 

Med. 731-32: 

earat. TaS'; dXXd wicTTis el ykvoiTo p.ot 
TOVTOiv, exoi-li 0.V TrdvTa -rrpos akdev KoXcbs. 

" So be it. Yet, were oath-pledge given for this 
To me. then had I all I would of thee." 

Med. 735-36: 

. . . TOVTOIS 8\ OpKtOKTL n'iV ^Vyti%, 

ayovinv ov fiedel' av en yaias ip.k. 
" Oath-bound, thou couldst never yield me 
To these, when they drag me from the land." 


12 Ernest Hcinrich Klotsche 

lEgtws takes the oath : 
Med. 7S2-SZ'- 

ofivvm Trjp Kal \ainrp6v 'HXiou <^doj 
iStoiis re Travras knufvtlv a <tov k\vo}. 

" Bj^ Earth, the Sun's pure ITlajest^^ and all 
The Gods, I swear to abide by this thou hast said." 

Medea asks him: What do you imprecate on yourself to suffer 
if you do not abide by this oath? 

Med. 754: 

. . . rt 5 opKij} Tuide nij fjifj.tvuv TrdjJois; 
"For broken trotli what penalt}-?" 

-^geus answers : 

Med. 755: 

d Tolat 8va<7ej3ovai ylyveTai ^poTuiv. 
" The worst that scourgeth God-despising men." 

The oaths of Jason by which ]\Iedea was induced to cross from 
Asia to Europe are represented as a person or supernatural power 
which brought her : 

Med. 206-10: 

TOP kv X4x*t irpoboTav KaKovviKJiov 
■deoKKvTtl 5' abiKa -wadoiiaa 

TOLV TjCLVOS bpKlaV HkflLV, 

a. viv ifiacrtv k. t. X. 

"... the traitor to love who with false vows caught her 
Who in strength of her wrongs chideth Heaven, assailing 
The Oath-queen of Zeus, who with cords all prevailing 
Forth haled her, and brought her o'er, etc." 

The " Oath-queen," i.e., who watches over the fulfillment of 
oaths. Themis caused IMedea to cross over, because the latter 
believed in the oaths of Jason. 

Among the Greeks, as among the ancients generally, the oath, 
regarded as a divine institution, had a sacred character. \Mien 
the Gods had been called to witness, one's obligation was abso- 
lute. Zeus was called Zeus opKios (Hipp.. 1025), the "guardian 
of oaths," or ranlas opKu (]\Ied., 170), the "steward of oaths," 


The Supernatural in the Tragedies of Euripides 1 3 

who punishes men who break them. In the ^ov\evTr]pLov at 
Olympia there was a statue of Zei's op/ctos with a thunderbolt in 
each hand. (Pans. V, 24, 9). 

As regards the formula of oath sometimes a prayer of a some- 
what conventional form constitutes the oath, but besides these in- 
stances we find in the tragedies of Euripides as well as in Greek 
literature in general numerous examples of well-marked formulas 
of oath, which are mostly references to deities, as " by Zeus ; " 
"I call Zeus to witness," val jud Ata- vrpos d^euu- 'iarco Zeus- a-v/i- 
iiapTvai deols. Med. 619: 8aifxovas ixapTvpoixai. 

Med. 21-22 : 

Poa fiiv opKovs, avaKaXel 5e Sepias 
iriaTLv fieyicTTTiv, Kal i^ioiis iiapTvptTai. 

^oa opKovs implies the calling for the vengeance due to broken oath ; 
Se^cds -KLCfTLs is used of plighting troth by the hand. 

Med. 412-13 : 

. . . {^eibv 5' ovK€Ti itiaTis apape. 

^ecov TTtoTts is the appeal to the Gods as witnesses of a pledge, or 
faith plighted in the sight of the Gods. 

Sometimes a curse is invoked on himself by the swearer that 
he may perish if he fails to keep his oath, as Med. 755. The 
Greeks usually swore by a divinity that was in some way con- 
nected Avith the subject of discourse. So Medea (395) swears 
by Hekate, the patroness not only of witches, but of all who com- 
pounded poisons, philters, etc. Medea figures throughout the 
play as a magician and accomplishes her vengeance largely 
through the aid of sorcery. 

An oracle is mentioned in vv. 666 E. /Egeus has been to Delphi 
to inquire how he may be blessed with offspring. He is on his 
way to Pittheus to consult him on the meaning of the obscure 
oracle. The God had said : 

Med. 679 and 681 : 

acTKOv p.e Tov Trpovxovra p.ri \vaai iroSa, 
TTplv av irarpVav avdis ecrriav /uoXa'. 

"Loose not the wine-skin's forward-jutting foot, 
Till to the hearth ancestral back thou come." 


14 Ernest Hcinrich Klotsche 

This oracle adds nothing particular to our search, except that it 
is a striking instance of an obscure and ambiguous oracle. Its 
real meaning being " to preserve continence till his return 
home"; hni acKov Xvaat -n-oda also signified "to untie the foot- 
skin of a wine-bag." 

3. Thk Hippolytus 

In the " Hippolytus " we meet with several remarkable features 
of the supernatural element. The subject of the play is the ven- 
geance which Aphrodite, the Goddess of love, exacts from the 
hero after whom the play is named. The prologue is spoken by 
Aphrodite. She tells us that she is- wroth against Hippolytus, 
because he has slighted her in- word and deed ; then she goes on 
to declare her intention of avenging herself by a plot involving 
Phaedra's destruction as well as his. 

" Theseus shall know this thing ; all bared shall be : 
And him that is my foe his sire shall slay 
By curses, whose fulfilment the Sea-king 
Poseidon gave to Theseus in this boon — 
To ask three things of him, nor pray in vain. 
And she shall die — O yea, her name unstained, 
Yet Phaedra dies : I will not so regard 
Her pain, as not to visit on my foes 
Such penalty as is mine honour's due. 
But, — forasmuch as Theseus' son I see 
Yonder draw near, forsaking hunting's toil, 
Hippolytus, — forth will I from this place. 
Ha, a great press of henclimen following shout 
Honouring with songs the Goddess Artemis ! 
He knows not Hades' gates wide flung for him. 
And this day's light the last his eyes shall see." 

(42-38.) 

By means of this prediction — as is usually the case in the pro- 
logues of Euripides — the spectators are made familiar before- 
hand with the subject of the play. In the opening scene the hero 
of the play enters with attendant huntsmen whom he exhorts to 
extol the praise of Artemis. They respond in the lofty strain: 


TJic SupcrnaiuraJ in flic Tragedies of Euripides i =; 


Hipp. 61-72 : 

TTOTVia TTOTVia (TfUPOTaTa, 

Zai^os yepedXov. 

Xaipe x^Ipe MOt, w Kopa k. t. X. 

'O Majesty, Daughter of Zeus, dread Queeu, 

I hail thee, Artemis, now, 
O Leto's Daughter, O Zeus's child. 
Loveliest far of the Undefiled ! 
In that great Home of the Mighty Father, 
The palace of Zeus, mid the glorj'-sheen 

Of gold — there dwellest thou. 
O fairest, to theeward in greeting I call, 
Artemis, fairest of Maidens that gather 

In Olympus' hall ! " 

Then Hippolytus offers a garland of flowers to Artemis ; hence 
our play is sometimes called " Stephanephoriis," the " wreath- 
bearer." 

Hipp. 73-87: 

aoi Tovde irXeKTOv <Tjk4>avov e^ aK-qparov 

Xttyuajcos, CO diffTTOLva, Koanrjaas 4>epo}, 

€vd' ovT€ iroLfj,r]v dftoZ </)€p/3etj' Soto. 

ovt' ^Xde TTW aL5r)pos, dXX' aK-qparov k. t. X. 

" For thee this woven garland from a mead 
Unsullied have I twined, O Queen, and bring. 
There never shepherd dares to feed his flock. 
Nor steel of sickle came: only the bee 
Roveth the springtide mead undesecrate : 
And Reverence watereth it with river-dews. 

Now Queen, dear Queen, receive this anadem 
From reverent hand to deck thy golden hair; 
For to me sole of men this grace is given. 
That I be with thee, converse hold with thee, 
Hearing thy voice, yet seeing not thy face. 
And may I end life's race as I began." 

In this beautiful prayer the poet portrays with exquisite skill 
the ideal of a chaste and pious character. Hippolytus' piety is as 
untainted as his purity. 

The Old Nurse who tries in vain to persuade Hippolytus to 
worship Aphrodite steps up to the altar of that Goddess whose 


WL 


1 6 Ernest Hcinrich KlotscJic 

statue or symbol, like that of Artemis, was on the stage, and 
utters the following prayer : 

Hipp. 114-20: 

•flfifTs Se, Tous viovs yap ov iiitxr^Tkor, 
(ppovovvTes ovToos Cos wpiTret. SovXois XeYeit", 
irpoaev^Ofxeada Tolat, aols ayaX/iacri., 
SkffTTOLva Kvirpi. 

K. T. X. 

" But we — wlio must not tread in steps of j-outh — 
With whispered humbleness most meet for thralls 
Make supplication to thine images. 
Queen Cypris. It beseems thee to forgive, 
If one that bears through youth a vehement heart 
Speak folly. Be as though thou heardest not ; 
For wiser Gods should be than mortal men." 

The same sentiment of piety and devotion as in the prayer of 
Hippolytus in vv. 73-87 is expressed in the words in which he 
addresses his favorite Goddess, when he knew that his fate was 
sealed : 

Hipp. 1092-94: 

CO (pikTCiTr) fxoi daLfxoucov A777or's Kopr} 
avv^aKe (rvyKvvaye, 4>ev^ovy.€<Tda. Sfi 
KXetfds 'Ai?T7fas. 

" Dearest of Gods to me, O Leto's Child, 
Companion, fellow-huntress, I shall flee 
Athens the glorious." 

The end soon comes, and the dying Hippolytus is brought 
home. In lamentations loud and deep he calls on Death, the 
healer : 

Hipp, isrs-yd- 

Kal ttoi Qavaros Tlaiav ?Xi?oi. 
vpoaairbWuTt ti 6Wvt€t6v dvaSainov • 

Sianoipaaat. 

" Give ye sleep unto me, 
Death-salve for my pain. 

The sleep of the sword for the wretched — I long, oh I long to 
be slain." 

Then suddenly is he aware of the presence of Artemis. A mar- 


The Supernal itral in the Tragedies of Euripides ly 

vellous fragrance reveals her presence, and the dying youth mo- 
mentarily revives and addresses the Goddess to whom he is faith- 
ful unto death : 

Hipp. 1391-93: 

& Oelop odixrjs wvtvixa' Kal yap iv KaKois 
&v Xtcrdonriv aov KavtKov^yladrjv Zknas- 
((jt' kv TOTTOKJL tol(tL8' Apre/xts tJea; 

" Ah, perfume-breath celestial ! — mid my pains 
I feel thee, and mine anguish is assuaged. 
Lo in this place the Goddess Artemis ! " 

But the same pious, innocent Hippolytus being keenly conscious 
of the injustice of his fate pours out his grief to the Gods: 

Hipp. io6o-f»i : 

w !?eoi, tL drira rovfxov oh Xvu aTOfia, 
ooTts 7' v<t>' vfjov, ovs (T€/3w SioXXii/ittt; 

" O Gods, whj can I not unlock my lips, 
Who am destroyed by you whom I revere ? " 

and cries out as he dies : • 

Hipp. 1363-69: 

ZeD ZeD, rdS' opas', 
68 6 (Tinvos kyu) Kal dtoakirrixip, 
68' 6 (TU(j)po(jvv{i Travras vvepax^v 
irpoviTTOv « AiStji/ crretx'^ Kara, yfis, 
okkaat ^loTov p.6xdovs 5' aXXcos 
T^j evceffias 
eis iivd^ponrovs eTrofrjaa. 

" Ah Zeus hast thou seen ? 
Innocent I, ever fearing the Gods, who was wholly heart-clean 
Above all men beside, — 

Lo, how I am thrust 
Unto Hades, to hide 

My life in the dust! 
All vainly I reverenced God, and in vain unto man was I just." 

The chorus, too, though confessing they derive consolation 
from a belief in the care of the Gods, declare that on looking at 
the chances and changes of human life, they fail to get a clear 
view of the dealings of providence : 

" When faith overfloweth my mind, God's providence all-embracing 
Banisheth griefs : but when doubt whispereth 'Ah but to know ! ' 


1 8 Ernest Heinrich Klotsche 

No clue through the tangle I find of fate and of life for my 

tracing: 
There is ever a change and many a change, 
And the mutable fortune of men evermore swaj-s to and fro 

Over limitless range. 
Ah, would the Gods hear prayer! etc." (Hipp. ii02ff.) 

The j)rayer which Euripides puts into the mouth of Hippolytus 
(1363-69) not only shows lack of consistency in drawing the 
character of Hippolytus, but it also illustrates how ready Euripi- 
des is to discredit the religion he did not believe in. Here the 
question arises: Why, if Artemis so loved Hippolytus, did she 
not interfere to save him? In vv. 1327 ff. she explains why she 
could not prevent the deed, for there is a law of the Gods not to 
oppose one another : 

Hipp. 1325-30: 

. . . dXX' o^ws 

Ct' i(TTL aol KOI TWPdt (Tl»77l'aj/i77S TVXill'' 

KvTTpis yap fjdiX' cbcrre yiyveffdai raSe, 
nXripovcra dvptov. deolffi, 5' u5' exet v6^io%- 
oiibds awoLvrav /SouXerat Tvpodvp-lq. 
rfi Tov dk\ovTO'i, aXX' a4>L(rTafxead^aei. 

This explanation given by Artemis well fits Prof. Jebb's note- 
worthy conception of our play. According to him the whole 
action of the play is made to turn on the jealous feud between 
Aphrodite, the Goddess of love, and Artemis, the Goddess of 
chastity. " The natural agency of huinan passion is now re- 
placed by a supernatural machinery ; the slain son and the be- 
reaved father are no longer the martys of sin, the tragic wit- 
nesses of an inexorable law ; rather they and Phaedra are alike 
the puppets of a divine caprice, the scapegoat of an Olympian 
quarrel in which they have no concern." (Jebb on Euripides in 
Encycl. P>ritannica.) 

Some examples of imprecations or curses occur in our play. 
Phaedra pronounces a curse on the Nurse who without the queen's 
knowledge and consent has revealed to Hippolytus the whole 
situation : 


The Supernakiral in the Tragedies of Euripides 19 

Hipp. 682-S6: 

o) irayKaKiffTt) koI <}>L\cav 5ia4>dopev, 

ol eipyaaco jue. Zeus tre yivvrjTicp kfxos 

Trpoppi^ov hKTpl\j/ti.ev oiiracras wvpL. k. t. X. 

" Vilest of vile ! destroyer of thy friends ! 
How hast thou ruined me ! May Zeus my sire 
Smite thee with flame, blast thee to nothingness ! 
Did I not tell thee — not divine thy purpose?" 

Another example is found in vv. 887 ff., where Hippolytus 
charged by Theseus with the crime of having made dishonorable 
proposals to Phaedra, is cursed by his father with a fatal curse : 

Hipp. 887 ff. : 

dXX' w TTCLTtp Ylocrtibov, as e^oi irore 
dpa? VTTtaxov rptls, /^t^ Karkpyaaat. 
TOVTwv kp.6v 7raI5', r]fxipav 5e p-i) ^vyot 
Ti)vb\ tlirep r]p.lv co7ra<ras cra^els dpds. 


7; yap Iloo'etSaij' avrov els AtSou irvXas 
■davovTa irepxfeL rots e/xds dpds cre/Scor, 
7) TTJade xwpfls eKTreacbv dXcoyueros 
^ivTjv kir' alav \vTrp6v. avrX-qati. ^lov. 

" Father Poseidon, thou didst promise me 
Three curses once. Do thou with one of these 
Destroy my son : may he not escape this day, 
If soothfast curses thou hast granted me. 

Either Poseidon, reverencing my pra}ers. 

Shall slay and speed him unto Hades' halls. 

Or, banished from this land, a vagabond 

On strange shores shall he drain life's bitter dregs." 

W'wh this passage compare vv. 44 it., where Aphrodite predicts 
this curse : 

" And him that is mj- foe his sire shall slay 
By curses, whose fulfillment the Sea-king 
Poseidon gave to Theseus in this boon — 
To ask three things of him, nor pray in vain." 

and vv. 1173 ff., where the messenger brings the news of the ful- 
fillment of the curse. 

Hippolytus asserts his innocence imprecating Zeus' punishment 
upon himself in case he is guilty : 


20 Ernest He in rich KlotscJie 

Hipp. 1 191-93: 

Zeii, fxrjKtT^ t ''?'', *' KaKos Tri(j}VK^ avrjp- 
aladoiTo 8' ijjuas cos drcud'^eL Tranjp 
fjTOL ^avovras rj <f>a.os dedopKoras. 

" Zeus, may I die if I a villain am ! 
May my sire know that he is wronging me, 
When I am dead, if not while I see light!" 

Finally the innocent Hippolytus being deadly wounded cries 
out : 

Hipp. 1415: 

(j>ev eW fiv dpalov 8alp.o(Xiv ^porup ykvos. 
" O that men's curses could but strike the Gods ! " 

The same innocent, pious Hippolytus who according to his own 
words had "ever reverenced and feared the Gods," wishes that 
the human race had the power of bringing curses on the Gods! 
What greater condemnation of the traditional Gods could there 
be than this ! 

In the well known passage v. 612 Euripides seems to express 
doubt as to the sanctity of oath. When the Nurse adjured Hip- 
polytus by his oath not to betray her wretched mistress he ex- 
claims in his fury : 

Hipp. 612: 

77 y\ib(Tcr' 6fi(jL>nox', V 5e 4>prtv dvuporos. 
" My tongue has sworn : no oath is on mj' soul." 

Cicero who renders this celebrated line : Juravi lingua, mentem 
injuratam gero (De Ofif. HI, 29), defends the sentiment. Aris- 
tophanes parodies it in several passages (Arist. Acharn. 398-99; 
Frogs 102; 1471 ; and Thesin. 275-76). The comic poet, like 
many others, misrepresents this line of Euripides, as though he 
justified the breach of an uttered oath on the plea of a mental 
reservation. This verse is also said to have brought upon Euripi- 
des the charge of impiety (Arist. Rhet. HI, 15). That the poet 
intended to imperil the respect due to oaths, is an unjust and ab- 
surd accusation. First of all it is always precarious to judge a 
dramatic poet by the excited utterances of his characters ; and 
then, if this verse is read in its proper place and interpreted in its 


TJie Supernal iiral in the Tragedies of Euripides 21 

context, it is easily explained. Phaedra's nurse before she in- 
forms Hippolytus of the passion which Phaedra has conceived for 
him, makes the young man promise not to reveal the secret she is 
about to communicate to him. Having made the promise under 
oath Hippolytus declares that if he were not bound by his oath 
he would unhesitatingly reveal the whole truth to his father, The- 
seus. This shows that the utterance in v. 612 is nothing but a 
sudden outburst of self-reproach on the part of a youth of stain- 
less purity, indignant at having been entrapped into a verbal oath 
of whose true meaning he was at the time utterly ignorant. Paley 
considers it uncertain whether Hippolytus spoke these words in 
earnest or merely to frighten the Nurse. But whatever may be 
said to explain this line, we know that Hippolytus feels himself 
bound by the oath : 

Hipp. 656-58: 

€v 8' ladt, Tovfxov a' eucre/Ses cru>^ei, yxivai- 
el fxri yap op/cots Oecbv a.<t)paKTOS 77 p'td-qv, 
ovK ixv TTor' 'iaxoy /l"? 011 rdS' t^eiwelv Trarpl. 

" Woman, I fear God : know, that saveth thee. 
For, had I not by oaths been trapped unawares, 
I had ne'er forborne to tell this to my sire,' 

and at the conclusion of the play, we find him bearing his father's 
unjust resentment, and even exile and death, rather than violate 
this very oath, which he declares in 612 to be no oath at all: 

Hipp. 1062-63 : 

oil drjra iravTus oil -iridoLp.' av ovs /xe del, 
p,a.TT]v 5' a.u opKovs avyx'ta-i-P-^ ovs wpoo-a. 

" No !— whom I need persuade, I should not so, 
And all for naught should break the oaths I swore ! " 

And Artemis bears testimony to Hippolytus' faithfulness in the 
following words : 

Hipp. 1306-09: 

fi cru) 51 opKiiiv Traihl arfpaivei voaov. 
6 6' (IxTirep wv SiKaios oiiK eipeaireTO 
'Koyoiatv, ouS' av Trpos aedev KaKovpevos 
&PKCOV d</)€tXe ■KiCTi.v, evffe^rii 7e7ws. 

"... her nurse 


22 Ernest Hcinrich Klotsche 

Told under oath-seal to thy son her pangs : 

He, even as was righteous, would not heed 

The tempting; no, nor when sore-wronged of thee 

•Broke he the oath's pledge, for he feared the Gods." 

Taken in its context v. 612 may, indeed, be justified; but the 
formula itself is objectionable on account of the possible abuse of 
its application. When Euripides distinguished between the 
tongue that pronounces the formula of the oath and the mind 
that does or does not acquiesce in the words pronounced, he did 
certainly not intend to express doubt as to the sanctity of oaths 
or even justify perjury, but intended to distinguish between valid 
and invalid oaths thus attempting to goad people to reflection. 
We may, however, well iinagine that the Greeks in Euripides' 
days, who were nourished on the idea that the formula of oath, 
when pronounced, was absolutely binding, were scandalized when 
they heard in the theatre that oaths might be discriminated ac- 
cording to the circumstances under which they were made. 

The following oath of the chorus is important for the sequel 
of the play. It prevents the chorus from revealing to Theseus 
the truth about the relations of Hippolytus and Phjedra and 
saving Hippolytus: 

Hipp. 713-14: 

onvvfiL crefivqv Aprefiiv Atos Kop-qv, 
IJ.r]8ii> KaKoiv aCiv ets 4>aos Sel^eiv irork. 

" I swear by reverend Artemis, Zeus' child, 
Never to bare to light of thine ills aught." 

The formula "Apre/xti' Atos Koprjv was suggested by the statue of 
Artemis, which stood on the stage. 

Euripides had no regard for the function of soofJisaycrs or 
prophets. He evidently considers them as public impostors and 
attacks them whenever opportunity offers. Hippolytus driven 
frotn Attica by his father, complains that he has been exiled 
without a trial, without proof of the crime of which he is accused, 
and without consultation of the soothsayers : 

Hipp. 1055-56: 

ovS' opKov ovSk ttLcttlv ov8e navrtccf 
<j)ijna$ kXty^a^ clkpltov kK0a\tls pe 7^s; 


TJic Supernatural in the Tragedies of Euripides 23 

" Nor oath, nor pledge, nor prophet's utterance 
Wilt test, but cast me forth the land untried?" 

and Theseus replies with no respect for the art of ornithomancy: 

Hipp. 1057-59: 

17 5eXros r;5€ KXrjpof ov Stdeynevr] 
KaT-qyopei aou iriCTTa- tovs 5 inrtp Kapa 
(poiTcopTas opveis ttoXX' tyw xtttpeti' \tyo3. 

" This tablet, though it bear no prophet's sign, 
Acuseth thee, not lieth : but the birds 
That roam o'erhead — I wave them long farewell." 

NB. In vv. 6i6 ft". Hippolytus expostulates with Zeus and lays 
the blame on him that woman is man's scourge : 

" Why hast thou given a home beneath the sun, 
Zeus, unto woman, specious curse to man? etc." 

The whole passage is a sally of doubtful sincerity, and since it is 
not so much an invective against Zeus as an invective — and per- 
haps the most bitter piece of an invective — against women, it is 
of little importance in regard to the poet's handling of the super- 
natural element. 

4. The Hecuba 

The "Hecuba" (about 425 B.C.) treats of the revenge of 
Hecuba, the widowed queen of Priam, of Polymestor, king of 
Thrace, who had murdered her youngest son Polydorus, after 
her daughter Polyxena had already been sacrificed by the Greek? 
to the shade of Achilles. 

Hecuba appears on the stage and declares that she has been 
driven from within her tent in alarm at a vision. The vision was 
the ghost of her murdered son, Polydorus, whom she believes to 
be safe and well in Thrace. She adds that she also has been 
warned by an ominous dreaui about her daughter Polyxena. 
From these apparitions she infers that some misfortune is im- 
pending over both her children and is anxious to consult her 
prophetic children, Cassandra and Helenus, as to the purport of 
these supernatural manifestations. Besides this vision and this 


24 Ernest Heinrich Klotsche 

dream a previous appearance of Achilles' ghost over his tomb had 
added to the alarm and confusion. 

Hec. 68-78: 

w orepoTra Atos, -ai aKoria vv^, 

tI ttot' aLpop.cn evvvxo'i o'iru 

Seinacn tpaafxaai.; Jj iroTPia Xi?oIjr, k. t. X. 

" O lightning splendour of Zeus, O mirk of the night, 
Why quake I for visions in slumber that haunt me 
With terrors with phantoms? O Earth's majestic might, 
Mother of dreams that hover in dusk-winged flight, 
I cry to the vision of darkness ' Avaunt thee!' — 
The dream of m}^ son wlio was sent into Thrace to be saved 

from the slaughter, 
The dream that I saw of Polj'xena's doom, 
Which I saw, which I knew, which abideth to daunt me." 

Hec. 90 ff. : 

iibov yap /SaXtav e\a4>ov \vkov a'inovL x^Xa 

(Tcpa^onkfav, aw' i.y.wv yovarwv airaadtKrav avayKq. oiKTpibs. 

" For a dappled fawn I beheld which a wolf's red fangs were 
tearing. 
Which he dragged from my knees, whereto she had clung in 
her piteous despairing." 

Hecuba reflects again on the apparition of her son : 

Hec. 702-06: 

iiijioL, alal, €p.ai)ov ivvirvLOV buixaroiv 

eficov '6\ptv, ov p.e wape^a 0d- 

(Tfjia fxeXavoirTepov, 

au efftlSov i.fj.<l>l a', 

w rkKvov, ouKer' ovra Atos tv </)d«t. 

" Woe's me, I discern it, the vision that blasted my sight ! 
Neither flitted unheeded that black-winged phantom of night, 
Which I saw, wliich revealed that my son was no more of the 
light." 

Doubtless, Euripides employs such supernatural element of 
dreams and visions as a survival of a primitive belief. But the 
predominant reason for employing supernatural apparitions and 
manifestations in tragedy, especially where a serious effect is 
aimed at, is the desire of the poet to arouse terror. The fear of 
ghosts and the fear resulting from dreams, is, of course, vague 


TJie Supernatural in the Tragedies of Euripides 25 

and hard to define, but the feeling is rooted deeply in the human 
soul that there are such supernatural forces and that they are of 
doubtful friendliness to man. Hence Euripides calls Earth "the 
Mother of dreams " regarding dreams as sent up from the re- 
cesses of the earth, i.e., from Hades; therefore they are "black- 
winged," i.e., gloomy and of evil portent. 

Different types of prayers occur in the " Hecuba." In utter 
distress Hecuba fervently implores the Gods to spare her children : 

Hec. 79-80: 

CO x^o'''ot t?€oi, (TcocraTe 7rat5 e/UOJ', 
OS novos o'Lkuv ajKvp' iixHiv. 

" Gods of the Underworld save ye my son, 

Mine house's anchor, its only one." 

Hec. 96-97 : 

(xtt' efxcLS ovv dir' tjias rode waidos 
irkn^pare, dalfiopes, i/cereuw. 

" O Gods, I am suppliant before you ! — In any wise turn, I im- 
plore you. 
This fate from the child of my womb!" 

Euripides, who sometimes seems to deny or call in question the 
existence of the Gods, makes Talthybius moralize on the strange 
dispensations of heaven and the caprice of fortune: 

Hec. 488-91; 

o) Zev, Tt Xejco; Trorepd cr' avOpdcirovs bpav; 
fj do^av aWws rijvbe KtKTr\adai. ixaT-qv 
xpevSfj, SoKovvTas daLnovoiv tivaL ■ykvo'i, 
rvxTl" 5* "Kavra rav ^pOTols kivLcyKOTrelv; 

"What shall I say, Zeus? — that thou look'st on men? 

Or that this fancy false we vainly hold 

For nought, who deem there is a race of Gods, 

While chance controlleth all things among men?" 

In conformity with this sentiment the poet makes Polymestor 
say: 

Hec. 958-60: 

4>pvpovai 5 avTO. tJeot TrdXti' re Kai, irpoffu} 
Tapay/jLov efTidepres, cos dyvwalq. 
ak^Ufiev avrovs. 

" All things the Gods confound, hurl this way and that, 


26 Ernest HcinyicJi Klotsche 

Turmoiling all, that we, foreknowing nought. 
May worship them." 

Prayers to the dead are of frequent occurrence in Euripides. 
Achilles' son attempts to propitiate his father's ghost by sacrifice 
and prayer and all the host joined in that prayer: 

Hec. 534 ff-: 

Se^at xoas ixov rdaSe k. t. X. 

" Son of Peleus, father mine, 
Accept from me these drops propitiator}-, 
Ghost-raising. Draw thou nigh to drink pure blood 
Dark-welling from a maid. We give it thee. 
The host and I. Gracious to us be thou ; etc." 

Invocations of the dead presuppose that the departed soul, 
though beneath the earth, still has the semblance of existence and 
the power of hearing. In this case the spirit of the dead was not 
only thought to be propitiated by the sacrifice, but actually to 
taste it. 

Polymestor having obtained an oracle from the Thracian seer 
Dionysus foretells to Hecuba that she shall die by a fall from a 
mast after having been changed into the canine species, and to 
Agamemnon that he will die by the hand of his wife: 

Hec. 1261 ff. : 

KpiApri flip ovv Tteffovaav be Kapx'l<f^^v k- t. X. 
" Nay, but shall whelm thee fallen from the mast. 

Yea — slay him too, upswinging high the axe." 

5. The Andromache 

The " Andromache " was not acted at Athens in the author's 
life-time. Its plot belongs to the same division of the Trojan 
affairs as the " Hecuba " and the " Troades," viz., the fortune 
of the captives after the destruction of their city. The "An- 
dromache " is by no means one of the best plays of Euripides. It 
also contributes only a few examples to our discussion, but those 
few are characteristic of the poet's handling the supernatural 
element. 


The Supernatural in the Tragedies of Euripides 27 

Orestes, who prays to his patron God: 
Andr. 900: 

" O Healer Plioebus, grant from woes release ! " 

assumes that the Gods do wrong; in the following verse (901) he 
asks Hermione : 

"What ails thee? Art thou wronged of Gods or men?" 

and Hermione answers in the affirmative : 

" Of myself partly, partly of mj' lord. 
In part of some God : ruin is everywhere ! " 

In the choral ode (lOOQff.) the divine founders of Troy, Apollo 
and Poseidon, are upbraided for having abandoned to destruction 
their once beloved city : 

Andr. 1009-16: 

CO ^oi^e TTvpywa-as 

Tov kv 'IXicj) tvT€L-)ifi wayov k. t. X. 

ToXaivav ixe^elre Tpoiav; 

" O Phoebus, who gavest to Ilium glory 

Of diadem-towers on her hights, — and O Master 
Of Sea-depths, whose grey-gleaming steeds o'er the hoary 
Surf-ridges speed, — to the War-god, The Waster 
With spears, for what cause for a spoil did he cast her, 
Whom your own hands had fashioned, dishonoured to lie 
In wretchedness, wretchedness — her that was Troy?" 

In the famous speech which the poet puts into the mouth of 
Andromache, and in which he expresses his own dislike of the 
Spartans, he pronounces an imprecation on that people : 

Andr. 451-53: 

ov \kyoPTes aWa y.tv 
yXcoacry, 4>poi>ovvT€s 5 aXX e(l)€VpLaKe(ni) aei; 

oXoiffde. 

" Convicted liars, saying 
This with the tongue, while still your hearts mean that, 
Now^ ruin seize ye ! " 

The oracle-god is portrayed as a pitiless character, who con- 


28 Ernest Hc'nirich Klotsche 

demns Neoptolemus to death when engaged in expiating a small 
offence thus seeking by prayer and sacrifice to assuage the wrath 
of the God: 

Andr. 1 161-65: 

ToiaDi?' 6 Tois aXXotffi iJeffirifwi' ava^, 
6 Twv biKa'iwv Tracriv avd puirois KpiTrjs, 
SiKas dLSovra ttoIS' eSpacr' 'Ax'XXews. 
e)xvr]n6vev(re 8 cbawep avdponros KaKos 
waXaia peiKj]- ttws di' ovv etij ao<p6s', 

" Thus he that giveth oracles to the world, 
He that is judge to all men of the right, 
Hath wreaked revenge upon Achilles' son, — 
Yea, hath remembered, like some evil man. 
An old, old feud! How then shall he be wise?" 

The satire in these lines so freely reflecting on the alleged 
justice, impartiality, and wisdom of Apollo is in keeping with the 
poet's attitude elsewhere; cf. Ion 436 ff. The poet's enemies of 
old were delighted with the handle which such passages oft'ered 
against him. (Arist. Thesm. 450.) 

6. The Ion 

The " Ion " — chronologically placed somewhere between 424- 
421 B.C. — may safely be called one of the most perfect and beau- 
tiful of the Greek tragedies. The young Ion is a priest at the 
temple of Delphi when Xuthus and his wife Creusa, daughter of 
Erechtheus, come to inquire of the God concerning their child- 
lessness ; and it is discovered that Ion is the son of Creusa by the 
God Apollo. 

The " Ion " represents the supernatural, and especially the 
oracle-god in as unpleasant a light as possible. 

In a monody of remarkable beauty, and full of pure-minded 
and devout sentiments Ion describes with enthusiasm the pleas- 
ure, he takes in the service of Apollo, his patron god, vv. 82-183. 
To quote only : 

Ion 128-43: 

KoXov y€ t6v irovov, w 

<l'oT/3e, <Tol irp6 bbfioiv Xarpevu k. t. X. 

"'Tis my glory, the service I render 


The Supernatural in the Tragedies of Euripides 29 

In thy portals, O Phoebus, to thee ! 
I honour thj^ prophet-shrine. 
Proud labour is mine — it is thine ! 
I am thrall to the Gods divine : 
Not to men, but Immortals, I tender 
My bondage ; 'tis glorious and free : 
Never faintness shall fall upon me 
For my father thee, Phoebus, I praise. 
Who hast nurtured me all my days : 
My begetter, mine help, my defender 
This temple's Phoebus shall be. 
O Healer, O Healer-king. 
Let blessing on blessing upring 
Unto Leto's Son as I sing!" 

There are few things more charming in Greek literature than 
the picture of Ion's childHke innocence and priestly sanctity which 
Euripides portrays in these lines. Ion reininds one strongly of 
the boy Samuel whose ministrations are painted with so exquisite 
a grace in the Old Testament. But as soon as Ion hears of the 
God's deed he breaks forth in this wise : 

Ion 436-51 : 

vovdeT7]Teos 5e juot 
$oZ/3os, TL Trdcrxet' TrapOhovs jSlq. yancou 
■Kpodi8a)c7t., k. t. X. 

"... Yet must I plead 
With Phoebus — what ails him ? He ravisheth 
Maids, and forsakes ; begetteth babes by stealth, 
And heeds not, though they die. Do thou not so ! 
Being strong, be righteous. For what man soe'er 
Transgresseth, the Gods visit this on him. 
How were it just then that ye should enact 
For men laws, and 3'ourselves work lawlessness? 
For if — it could not be, yet put it so — 
Ye should pay mulct to men for lawless lust, 
Thou, the Sea-king, and Zeus the Lord of Heaven, 
Paying for wrongs should make your temples void. 
For, following pleasure past all wisdom's bounds, 
Ye work unrighteousness. Unjust it were 
To call men vile, if we but imitate 
What Gods deem good : — they are vile who teach us this." 


30 Ernest Hcinrlcli Klotsche 

For the same sentiment cf. Creusa's words, 

vv. 249 ff. : 

"... looking on Apollo's dwelling place, 
I traversed o'er an ancient memory's track : 
Afar my thoughts were, and my body here. 
Ah, wrongs of women ! — wrongful-reckless deeds 
Of Gods! For justice where shall we make suit, 
If 'tis our Lord's injustice crushes us?" 

Again she charges Apollo with injustice 

Ion 384 ff. : 

cj <I>oZ/3€, KaKel K'di'iydS 011 diKaios el k. t. X. 
"O Phoebus, there and here unjust art thou 
Unto the absent one whose plea is here. 
Thou shouldst have saved thine owai, yet didst not save ; etc." 

and in the violent invectives vv. 88i ff. she cannot find sufficient 
imprecations wherewith to curse before Heaven the " ravisher- 
bridegroom " (911) who has made her mother. 

These passages not only show that the poet requires the Gods 
to teach by example and not merely by precept in order to furnish 
a moral standard for humanity, but these verses also illustrate 
how ready Euripides is to bring forward with great force the 
grosser side of the Greek legend, and to discredit the religion 
with which he is not at all in inner harmony. Toward the end of 
the play, however, — as in other tragedies of Euripides, where the 
Gods are most severely assailed, — the conduct of the God is vin- 
dicated by Athena who speaks for her brother, vv. 15951^. "Well 
hath Apollo all things done : etc. ; " and Creusa finally admits the 
justice of Apollo : 

" Here me : Phoebus praise I, whom I praised not in mine hour 
of grief, 
For that whom he set at naught, his child, to me he now re- 
stores, etc." 

and the chorus insists at the end that the God's ways are not our 
ways, and that their seeming injustices are made good in due 
time : 


The Siipcniatiiral in the Tragedies of Euripides 31 

Ion 1619-21 : 

d) Atos Atjtoi's t AttoXXoc, X'^'-P ot(^ b tkahvtTaL k. t. X. 
" Zeus' and Leto's Son Apollo, hail ! Let him to powers divine 
Render homage undismayed, whose house affliction's buffets 

smite : 
For the good at last shall overcome, at last attain their right ; 
But the evil, by their nature's law, on good shall never light." 

Creusa's prayer in vv. 410 ff. is characteristic on account of its 
ambiguity : 

Ion 410-12: 

J) TTOTVia ^ol^ov nfjTep, el 'yap alcriws 
'i\&oifxev, a. re vHov crvulSoXaia npoadii' fjv 
€S 7raI5a top <t6v, fxtTairecroi ^(Xriofa. 

" Queen, Phoebus' mother, grant our home-return 
Prosperous : all our dealings heretofore 
Touching thy son, to happier issue fall ! " 

With this prayer Creusa intentionally deceives her husband. She 
secretly refers to the relation between herself and Apollo, while 
Xuthus is to take vu)v for himself and his wife, the au^jSoXata 
being the sacrifices which they two had formerly made to Apollo 
for children. 

Two other prayers of less importance to our investigation may 
be mentioned here. The choral ode in vv. 1048 ff. opens as a 
prayer to Hekate, the Goddess of sorcery and secret poisoning. 
She is invoked to direct to a favorable issue the stealthy attempt 
on Ion's life : 

'■ Goddess of Highways, Demeter's Daughter, 
Queen of the nightmare darkness-ranger, 
Guide thou tlie hand that for noontide slaughter 
Shall fill the chalice, my lady's avenger, etc." 

The prayer of the chorus in vv. 452 fif. is an invocation to 
Athena and Artemis to intercede with their brother in favor of 
the ancient royal house of Erechtheus : 

" My Queen, at whose birth-tide was given 
Of the Lady of Travail-pang 
No help, hear, Pallas, my prayer, etc." 


32 Ernest Heinrich KlotscJic 

The DcJpJiic oracle and the Delphic God are exhibited in a very 
unfavorable light in our play. Apollo is represented as a seducer 
of women, who attempts to hide his misdeeds by means of fraud- 
ulent response : 

Ion 365-67: 

TTOJS 6 {}i6s b \adeiv /3o6Xerai ixavTevatrai.; 
eiTrep Kadi^ei TpiwoSa KOivbv EXXdSos. 
aiaxwerai ro irpdyixa- fii] '^eXeyx^ vlv. 

Ion: "How should the God reveal that he would hide?" 

Creusa: "How not? — his is the nation's oracle." 

Ion : " His shame the deed is. Question not of him." 

In other words : the God will never reveal in the oracle secrets 
against himself. Therefore the seer Trophonius 

"... took not on him to forestall the word 
Of Phoebus. This he said — nor thou nor I 
Childless shall wend home from the oracle." 

(vv. 407-09.) 

The following verses refer to the ambiguity of Apollo's oracle: 

Ion 787-88: 

OTiif ^vvavTr]<7€uv tK vaov (Tvdels 

Trpwrco TTOcTis ffos, 7raI5' eScoK* aurw deos. 

" Whomso thy lord should first meet as he passed 
From the God's fane, the God gave him for son." 

According to vv. 537, 775, and 788 the God's oracle was : 818^^1 
(TOL TOP TToiSa, thus leaving it ambiguous whether the boy was the 
son of Xuthus or his own son. Therefore Creusa says: 

Ion 1534-36: 

Trf<t)VKkvaL fxlv ovxh Sujpelrai 54 <re 
avTov yeyoira- Kal yap civ <pi\os (f>l\w 
8oItj top avTov waioa dfffwoTijv 56jucoi'. 

" Nay, not begotten ; but his gift art thou. 
Sprung from himself, — as friend to friend should give 
His own son, that his house might have an heir." 

and Ion asks : 




The Supernatural in the Tragedies of Euripides 33 

Ion 1537-38: 

6 dibs a\r]dh t) /jLarrju fxavTeverai', 
kfiov Tapcuratt, ixrJTep, eiKorcos 4)pkva. 

"Is the God true? — or doeth his oracle He? 
Alotlier, my soul it troubleth : well it may." 

" Loxias " ^^ " Apollo " was according to the popular deriva- 
tion "the God of crooked answers," because his oracles were 
\6^La " crooked " and so ambiguous. 

At the end after Apollo's plot has been discovered, Athena 
comes to speak for her brother, wdio is ashamed to appear in 
person, lest he be reproached for the manner in which he has 
managed affairs : 

Ion 1556-58 : 

IlaXXas, dpo/jiu crirevaacr' 'AttoXXwj'os irdpa, 
OS els nev o\piv cr4>ibv fxaXelv ovk r]^Lov, 
jj.7] T(j>v Tvapof&e nkp.\pLs els pkcTov noXy. 

" I Pallas from Apollo speed in haste, 
Who deigned not to reveal him to your sight, 
Else must he chide a^ou for things overpast." 

Literally translated the last line reads : " lest blame for former 
things should come between " referring to Apollo's conduct in 
the past. 

The poet's usual contempt for the art of divination is expressed 
in the following verses : 

Ion 374-77: 

els ycLp ToaovTOP afiadias eXdoi/jLeu dp, 
el Toi's deovs OLKOPras eKirovi]aop.ev 
(j)pa^eLP a p,r] deXovaiP r} Trpo^cop-iois 
<j<j)aya'Cai p.rjXuv ri bl oloiPOiP nTepols. 

" For, lo what height of folly should we reach 
If in the God's despite we wrest their will, 
By sacrifice of sheep on altars, or 
By flight of birds, to tell what they would veil." 

7. The Supplices 

The " Supplices " is almost entirely free from sceptical and ir- 
religious sentiments and replete with respect for the Gods. The 


34 


Ernest Hcinrich Klotsclic 


short prologue from .-Ethra is really an indirect prayer to Demeter 
at Eleusis : 

Siippl. 1-7 : 

Sij/xTjTep kcTTiovx' 'EXevalvos xi^opos 
Trja5' K. T. X. 

" Demeter, warder of Eleusis-land 

And ye which keep and serve the Goddess' fanes, 

Grant me and my son Theseus prosperous days, 

Grant them to Athens and to Pittheus' land, 

Where in a happy home my sire nursed me, 

^thra, and gave me to Pandion's son 

^geus, to wife, by Loxias' oracle." 

Theseus, who denies the old saying " that evil more abounds 
with men than good" (vv. 196-97), expresses his gratitude 
toward divine Providence : 

" Praise to the God who shaped in order's mould 
Our lives redeemed from chaos and the brute, 
First, by implanting reason, giving then 
The tongue, world-herald, to interpret speech ; 
l^arth's fruit for food, for nurturing thereof 
Raindrops from heaven, to feed earth's fosterlings. 
And water her green bosom ; therewithal 
Shelter from storms, and shadow from the heat, 
Sea-tracking ships, that traffic might be ours 
With fellow-men of that which each land lacks " 

(vv. 201-10) ; 

and his firm belief in dhiiiation: 
Suppl. 211-13: 

a 5' ear' ixcrrjua kov o'a<^^, yiyvuffKotxev 

tls irvp l3\tirovT€s, Kai Kara. awXayxvoiv vrvxas 

fiavras irpoarjfialvovaiv omvwv t' diro. 

" And for invisible things or dimlj' seen, 
Soothsayers watch the flame, the liver's folds, 
Or from the birds divine the things to be." 

Cf. also vv. 155 fi., where Theseus asks Adrastus : 

Suppl. 155: 

"Didst seek to seers, and gaze on altar flames?" 


mmmmimKmmm 


> Mi m, J». .ik^ im* L^ 


The Supernal It ral in the Tragedies of Euripides 35 

and Aclrastus confesses: 

"Ah me! thou presscst mc where most I erred!" (156.) 
In vv. 627 ff. Euripides lets the chorus appeal to Zeus : 
Suppl. 627-30 : 

icb ZeD, rds TraXaiofxaTopos 
Traidayofe iropLOs Ivaxov. 

ytpov ra8' ev/xepiis. 

" Zeus, hear us, whose offspring was born of yore 
Of Inachus-daughter, the heifer-maid! 
Oh be our champion thou, 
To our citj' be gracious now ! " 

•Adrastus professes that humanity is in close dependence upon 
Zeus : 

Suppl. 734-36: 

ci) ZeO, tL 8f]Ta tovs raXaLTrcopovs (3poTOvs 
(jjpovelv XkyovaL; crov yap k^ripTrip.eda 
8pufj.ku re rotaDt?' av au rvyxfifO^ ^eXoJv. 

" Zeus, wherefore do they say that wretched man 
Is wise? For lb, we hang upon thy skirts, 
And that we do, it is but as thou wilt." 

If things go as Heaven has ordained, no wonder that the same 
Adrastus admits that prayer is of no avail. He leaves the sup- 
pliant-bough on the altar as a protest that his prayer has been 
slighted, and exclaims : 

Suppl. 260-62: 

^eovs T€ Kal yrjv Ti)v re Trvp4>6pov deav 
Ar]nr)Tpa defxevac fidpTvp' r]\iov re <j)CJS, 
(is ovdiv Tj/xlv ripKiaav \lto.I deuiv. 

" Calling to witness heaven and earth, Demeter, 
Fire-bearing Goddess, and the Sun-god's light. 
That naught our prayers unto the Gods availed." 

Athena who comes in ex macJiina, bids Theseus not to sur- 
render the bodies of the seven chieftains without their pledging 
themselves ever after to be faithful to Athens, and promising, 
under the most solemn imprecations, never to invade the Attic 


36 Ernest HcinricJi Klotsche 

territory. She prescribes the ritual of the oath, vv. 1 183-1226. 
Theseus as well as the chorus express their willingness to obey : 

Theseus : 
Suppl. 1227-31 : 

bkairoLV^ 'Adava, neiaonai Xoyoiai. trols" 
• K. T. X. 

" Athena, Queen, thy words will I obey : 
Thou guidest me ever that I may not err. 
Him will I bind with oaths : only do thou 
Still lead me aright ; for gracious while thou are 
To Athens, shall we ever safely dwell." 

Chorus : 
Suppl. 1232-35: 

crretxcoMfj ASpacrt?', opKia dwfieu 
ToJS' avdpl TToXet t • a^ia 5 tiij.Iv 
irpoixefiox^VKaac ffk^eadat.. 

" On pass we, Adrastus, and take oath-plight 
Unto Theseus and Athens. That worship requite 
Their travail for us, is meet and right." 

8. The Heracleid/E 

In the " Heracleidas " Demophon, king of Athens, informs 
lolus that they who have charge of ancient oracles declare, one 
and all, that success in the pending conflict can only be assured 
by sacrificing to Ceres the maiden daughter of an illustrious sire : 

HcracL 403-09: 

XPT/CMW*' 5' iiOiSovs iravras els tv aXicras 
fjXey^a k. t. X. 

" All prophecy-chanters have I caused to meet. 
Into old public oracles have I searched, 
And secret, for salvation of this land. 
And, mid their manifold diversities. 
In one thing glares the sense of all the same: — 
They bid me to Demeter's Daughter slay 
A maiden of a high-born father sprung." 

In compliance with this oracle, IMacaria offers herself a willing 
victim for the welfare of the state, vv. 500 ff. 

Another oracle is proclaimed by the captured Eurystheus who 


The Supernatural in the Tragedies of Euripides 37 

foretells the future destiny of those who are now triumphant 
over him : 

Heracl. 1026-29 : 

KTi'w, ov Trapat.ToviJ.aL ae- k. t. X. 

XpijCTfJ.ii) iraXaiu) Ao^iov do:pr](TOfxaL, k. t. X. 

" Slay: I ask not thy grace. But I bestow 
On Athens, who hath spared, who shamed to slay me 
An ancient oracle of Loxias, 
Whicli in far days shall bless her more than seems." 

His prophecy is accepted by all as a revelation vv. 1053 ff. : 

" I also consent. On, henchman-train 
March on with the doomed. No blood-guilt stain, 
Proceeding of us, on our kings shall remain." 

The words of Alcmena uttered against her divine lover, Zeus, 
are in mitigated form a cruel reproach for the past : 

Heracl. 869-72: 

CO 7,€V, xporw fjikv rap. kireaKiipco KaKa, 
Xapiv 5' o/jws (Toi Tcbv ■weirpayp.evtjov exw" 
Kol Tvalba rbv ep.6v Ttpbadev oh boKova^ 'eyoi 
t?€oIs bpCKelv vvv eivlaTapaL cra^cos. 

" Zeus, late on mine affliction hast thou looked ; 
Yet thank I thee for all that thou hast wrought. 
Now know I of a surety that my son 
Dwelleth with Gods : — ere this I thought not so." 

See also her discreet complaints in vv. 718-19: 

" Never of me shall ill be said of Zeus ; 
But is he just to me-ward? Himself knows!" 

9. The Hercules Furens 

The " Hercules Furens " is, as regards the svipernatural ele- 
ment in the play, a condemnation through Hera and Zeus of the 
whole system of Gods. To the poet's favorite subject — accusa- 
tion of the Gods for their alleged injustice and immorality — is 
made allusion in the invocation of the chorus: 

H. F. 798 ff. : 

w "KkKTpoiv bvo avyyiveis 
(vvai, K. T. X. 


38 Ernest Heinrich Klotsclie 

" Hail to the couch where the spousals divine 
With the mortal were blended, 
Where for love of the Lady of Perseus' line 
Zeus' glory descended ! etc." 

It finds explicit expression in the characteristic passage in which 
Amphitryon expostulates with Zeus on account of his seduction 
of Alcmena, and his desertion of Hercules : 

H. F. 339-47 : 

tb ZeD, ixdTrjv ap' Ofxoyafiov a tKTricraixriv, 
fiarriv de iratdos yove k/jLOV (t' kKXy^o/iev 
(TV 8 fjff^ dp riaaov fi Sokcls elvai <f>i\os. 
i-perrj at pikHj -dmjTos oiv deov /leyav 
TralSas yap ov TvpovdcoKa tovs lipaKKtovs. 
(TV 5' els n'tv ivva.% Kpv4>Los TfirlaTOi fj.o\tlv, 
TaWorpca XtKTpa Sovtos ovSevos Xa0ihv, 
aco'C^eLV 8e tovs crovs ovk ewlaTaaai (piXovs. 
afxad-qs TLs el i?e6s, el diKaios ovk e(f>vs. 

" Zeus, for my couch-mate gained I thee in vain. 
Named thee in vain co-father of my son. 
Less than thou seemedst art thou friend to us ! 
Mortal, in worth thy godhead I outdo : 
Hercules' sons have I abandoned not. 
Cunning wast thou to steal unto my couch, — 
To filch another's right none tendered thee, — 
Yet know'st not how to save thy dear ones now ! 
Thine is unwisdom, or injustice thine." 

In the following verses Amphitryon cries to Zeus : 

H. F. 497-502 : 

ey(j) 8k a\ w Zeu, xei-p' es ovpavov 8lkuv 
a{)86}, TiKvoLcnv et tl toi<j18^ oKpeXelv 
fj.eX\eLS, aixvveiv, k. t. X. 

" But I, O Zeus, with hand to heaven upcast. 
Cry — if for these babes thou hast any help, 
Save them ; for soon thou nothing shalt avail. 
Yet oft hast thou been prayed : in vain I toil ; 
For now, meseems, we cannot choose but die." 

For the same sentiment see also Ion 436 ft. and Heracl. /iSfif. 
and H. F. 212: "If Zeus to us were righteously inclined." 

Nor does Hera command our respect. The poet represents 
her as solely responsible for the undeserved sufferings of the 
great benefactor of humanity : 


The Supernatural in the Tragedies of Euripides 39 

H. F. 1127-28: 

A: o) ZeD, Trap' Hpas ap' 6pq.s dp6v(jiv rdSe; 
H: dXX' 7) Ti KtWtv irokkfiLov ireirop^anei'; 

A: "Zeus seest thou this bolt from Hera's throne? " 
H: "Ha; have I suffered mischief of her hate?" 

Hera drives Hercules mad and makes him slayer of his own 
innocent children, all because of the Goddess's jealousy of Zeus. 
In reference to her fierce resentment the chorus exclaim : 

H. F. 888-90 : 

tcb ZeD, TO arov ykvos ayovov avTiKa 
\vaaix.bt% wp-o^pcores airoLVobiKoi dlKai 
KaKoidiv eKK€Td(rovcrip. 

" Ah misery ! Zeus, mad vengeance ravenous-wild 
Straightway, athirst for requital, with evils on evils piled, 
Shall trample thy son unto dust, as though he were not thy 
child." 

Such a Goddess has no claim on the adoration of men. No 
wonder that Hercules when the dreadful truth is brought home 
to him, cries : 

H. F. 1307-10 : 

TOiavrri i)eu> 
tLs av TTpoaeiixoii^' ', fj yvvaiKos eivsKa 
\iKTpo3v 4>^ovovaa Zrjvl robs tiiepytras 
EXXdSos dTrcbXecr ov8ev ovras alriovs. 

" To such a Goddess 
Who shall pray now? — who, for a woman's sake 
Jealous of Zeus, from Hellas hath cut off 
Her benefactors, guiltless though they were ! " 

" Dare not with thine admonitions trammel Hera's schemes and 
mine!" (885) 

is Iris's answer to Lyssa who appeals in vain for mercy: 

H.F. 847-54: 

■n-apaii'tcrat 8k, irplv acpaXelaav elatSilv, 
Hp?. i?eXw ffoi t', k. t. X. 

" Fain would I plead with Hera and with thee. 
Ere she have erred, if ye will heed my words. 
This man, against whose house ye thrust me on. 
Nor on the ea^th is fameless, nor in heaven. 


40 Ernest He in rich Klofsche 

The pathless land, the wild sea, hath he tamed, 
And the God's honours hath alone restored, 
When these by impious men were overthrown. 
Therefore I plead, devise no monstrous wrong." 

That Hercules is the object of divine resentment is also implied 
in Iris' answer to the chorus' appeal to Psean : 

H. F. 820-21 : 

<j)va^ Ilataj', 

dTTOTpOTTOS ykvOlO HOI, TVr)y.6.T0iP. 

" Healer, to thee, 
O King to avert from me yon bane I pray ! " 

Iris: "Fear not: this is the child of Night ye see, 

Madness, grey sires : I, handmaid of the Gods, 
Iris. We come not for your city's hurt; 
Only on one man's house do we make war — 
His, whom Zeus' and Alcmena's son they call. 
For, till he had ended all his bitter toils, 
Fate shielded him, and Father Zeus would not 
That I, or Hera, wrought him ever harm. 
But now he has toiled Eurystheus' labours through, 
Hera will stain him with the blood of kin, 
That he shall slay his sons : her will is mine." 

(vv. 822-32.) 

If this is the principle on which Olympus is organized we need 
not wonder that the Olympians turn a deaf ear to the prayers of 
suffering mankind and that things go wrong on earth. This is 
the idea which the poet through such passages — intentionally or 
unintentionally — suggests. 

Hercules who is believed to be in Hades is invoked by Megara 
to appear: 

H. F. 490-96 : 

J) 0iXrar', «t rts cjyi^dyyos eicraKoverai 

dvr)T(j}v Trap' AiSjj, aol rd8', 'HpdicXets, Xeyw ic. t. X. 

" Dear love, — if any in Hades of the dead 
Can hear, — I cry this to thee, Hercules : 
Thy sire, thy sons, are dj'ing; doomed am I, 
I, once through thee called blest in all men's eyes. 
Help ! — come ! — Though as a shadow, yet appear ! 


The Supernatural in the Tragtu s of Euripides 41 

Thy coming as a dream-shape would suffice 

To daunt the cravens who would slay thy sons ! " 

Then Hercules is suddenly seen, and though he has in fact re- 
turned bodily from the nether world, he is at first taken for a 
spectre who has come at the bidding of Megara ; but soon she be- 
comes aware that it is no " dream," but Hercules himself : 

" 'Tis he who lay, we heard, beneatli the earth, 
Except in broad day we behold a dream ! 
What say I? — see they dreams, these yearning eyes? 
This is none other, ancient, than thy son. 
Boys, hither ! — hang upon j'our father's cloak. 
Speed ye, unhand him not ; for this is he, 
Your helper he, no worse than Saviour Zeus." 

(vv. 516-22.) 

Megara in invoking Hercules in Hades expresses her belief in 

an invisible world, with which mortals have commerce. 

10. The Iphigenia in Tauris 

Iphigenia who had been doomed to die at Aulis for the Greeks 
had been snatched from that death by Artemis and had become 
priestess of the Goddess at the Tauris shrine where human vic- 
tims were immolated. On landing among the Tauri two strangers 
were captured by the inhabitants and sentenced to die at the altar 
according to custom. Iphigenia discovers in them her brother 
Orestes and his friend Pylades. They plan not only escape for 
all, but also means of conveying away the statue of the Goddess, 
which was the special end of their mission. They are recaptured 
and finally delivered by Athena who commands Thoas, king of 
the land, to permit their departure. 

A god-fearing herdman in Taurica who first notices the two 
fugitives, Orestes and Pylades, takes them for Gods, or for the 
two Dioscuri, or two of the Xeried nymphs, and prays to them : 

I. T. 270-74 : 

d> -KOTvia^ ■wal XevKodkas, vewv 4>v\o,^, 
SecnroTa WaXalnov, eXecos rn^lv yfvov, 
etr oi'v eir aKrals OkiTCFeTov ALOCKopw, 
7) NTjpeoJs dyaX/jLa^ , bs tov evyevrj 
iTiKTe TriVTr)KOVTa Ntjp'JJScoi' xopov. 


42 Ernest Hcinricli Klotsche 

" Guardian of ships, Sea-queen Leucothea's son 
O Lord Palsemon, gracious be to us ; 
Or ye, Twin Brethren, if ye yonder sit; 
Or Nereus' darlings, bom to him of whom 
That company of fifty Nereids sprang." 

Here the poet adopts the natural expressions of superstitious 
Greek seamen. Leucothea and Pal?emon were sea-gods beneficent 
to mariners. 

Iphigenia pleads with Artemis to rescue her and her two coun- 
trymen or else " Phoebus' lips must lose their truth to mortal men, 
through thee ! " 

I. T. 1083-88: 

03 irOTVl , TJTTtp ^l' AllXtSoS KCLTO. TTTl'XO-S 

beivfts eercoffas k. t. X. 
" O Goddess-queen, who erst bj' AuHs' clefts 
Didst save me from my sire's dread murderous hand, 
Save me now too with these ; else Loxias' \vords 
Through thee shall be no more believed of men. 
But graciously come forth this barbarous land 
To Athens. It beseems thee not to dwell ' 
Here, when so blest a city may be thine.' 

and again she prays to Artemis : 

I. T. 1398-1402: 

u! A77T0DS Kopr), 
aihaov fit Tr\v ar]v leplav k. t. X. 

"Leto's Child, O Maid, 
Save me, thy priestess ! Bring me unto Greece 
From alien land ; forgive my theft of thee ! 
Thy brother, Goddess, dost thou also love : 
O then believe that I too love my kin ! " 

Iphigenia inquires after her enemies, first of all Helen, then 
Calchas the seer who had died on his way from Troy, and finally 
Odysseus who with others had plotted the immolation of Iphi- 
genia. She pronounces a curse on Odysseus : 

I.T. 535: 

6X0LT0, vbarov ixijiroT etj Trdrpai' tvxwv. 
"Now ruin seize him! Never win he home!" 


The Supernatural in tlie Tragedies of Euripides 43 

Iphigenia requests her brother to take her home or 

" Else to thine house will I become a curse, Orestes." 

I. T. 277-78 : 

7) trots apaia hwnaaiv yevrjao/xai, 
'Opeffi?', K. T. \. 

alkiding to the influence of the vengeful, haunting spirit of a 
wronged person. 

In the following lines we have a striking example of a prayer 
which is used to deceive others. Iphigenia prays to Artemis : 

I. T. 1230-33: 

u> Atos \r)TOvs r' avaaaa irapdfv' , 7)1' rti/co 4>6vov 
Twv5e Kal {}v(T0ifxei> ovxpVj xaOapov OLK-qaus bopiov, 
evri'xeis 5' rjnels eaofxeda. raXXa 6 oii Xkyovir , o/xois 
rots TO. TrXetoj/' ecSocrtc deals aol re (rrjpaivco, dea. 

" Queen, O child of Zeus and Leto, so the guilt from these I lave, 
So I sacrifice where meet is, stainless temple shalt thou have : 
Blest withal shall we be — more I say not, yet to Gods who know 
All, and Goddess, unto thee, mine heart's desire I plainly show." 

The ambiguous meaning of this prayer is apparent to the spec- 
tator, but not to the party for whose hearing it is intended. King 
Thoas, a devout man and zealous for the honor of the Goddess, 
is persuaded by Iphigenia that not only the two strangers, but the 
image of the Goddess itself requires purification. So he is easily 
induced to send the captives to the sea-shore, while Iphigenia fol- 
lows with the image to perform, as Thoas supposes, the solemn 
rite of lustration, but in reality to take ship and transport the 
image to Greece. It is at this occasion that Iphigenia utters the 
equivocal prayer in the hearing of the king. The last words of 
the prayer " more I say not, etc.," are of course said aside. What 
the barbarian king understands of the priestess and her charge, 
duly reinstated in the purged temple, means to the spectators of 
the scene Athens and the deliverance of Iphigenia. 

That the will of Heaven must be carried out is finally admitted 
even by Thoas who says : 

I.T. 1475-76: 

a.va.a<j^ 'AOdva, rolffi roiv ddhv Xoyois 
6<rris k\{)wi> aTTiCTTOj, oi/K opdus (ppovtl. 


44 Ernest Heinrich Klotsche 

" Athena, Queen, who liears the words of Gods, 
And disobej'eth them, is sense-bereft." 

Pylades under a solemn oath promises Iphigenia to present the 
document written by Iphigenia, to Orestes, or in case the docu- 
ment be lost to deliver the message to Orestes in person ; while 
Iphigenia promises to send Pylades home unhurt, 735 ff. The 
solemn ceremony is concluded with the usual self-imprecation in 
case of violating the covenant : 

I. T. 747-52 : 

11: tLv ovv eirbfivvs Toiaid' opKiov deusv; 

I : Apreniv, ev i^crwep dunacnv tlucls ex^- 

n : kyo) 8 avaKra. y ovpavov, aep.v6v Ata. 

I: 61 6' tKKnricv tov opKov adiKoirjs (fie; 

n : auoo'Tos tirjv tL 8t ai), fxi] auiaaaix. /it; 

I : jXTjiroTe Kar' Apyos fwtr' Ixvos ^eirjv ttoSos. 

P: "What God dost take to witness this thine oath?" 
I : " Artemis, in whose fane I hold mine office." 

P : " And I by Heaven's King, reverend Zeus." 

I: "What if thou fail thine oath, and do me wrong?" 

P: "May I return not. If thou save me not? — " 
I : " Alive in Argos may I ne'er set foot." 

cf. also Medea 754. 

Iphigenia implores the chorus to keep silence about her plan to 
save her brother and herself. The chorus, consisting of captured 
Greek women who were spared by the Taurians for a life of 
servitude, promise under oath: 

I. T. 1076-77 : 

ws iK y' hfiov (701 Travra a ty r]di]<7eTaL, 
laru fieyas Zeus, w eTrio-KjjTTTets irepi. 

" I W'ill keep silence touching all the things 
Whereof thou chargest me : great Zeus be witness." 

Orestes impressed with the danger into which he has come 
through Apollo's oracle upbraids the God for having led him 
again into a net, when he had looked for a happy termination of 
his toils : 

I. T. 77-94: 

CO ^olfie, Trot )u' av Ti]vb^ « apKvv fiyayi% 
Xprjaas, k. t. X. 


The Supernatural in the Tragedies of Euripides 45 

" Phcebus, why is thy word again my snare, 
When I have slain my mother, and avenged 
My sire? From tired Fiends Fiends take up the chase, 
And exiled drive me, outcast from my land, 
In many a wild race doubling to and fro. 
To thee I came and asked how might I win 
My whirling madness' goal, my troubles' end. 
Wherein I travailed, roving Hellas through. 
Thou badst me go unto the Taurian coasts 
Where Artemis, thy sister hath her altars, 
And take the Goddess' image, which, men say, 
Here fell into this temple out of heaven. 
And, winning it by craft or happy chance, 
All danger braved, to the Athenians' land 
To give it — nought beyond was bidden me ; — 
This done, should I have respite from my toils. 
Hither I came, obedient to thy words. 
To a strange land and cheerless." 

Orestes had slain his mother in obedience to an oracle of 
Apollo. Pursued by the Furies in consequence of this deed, a 
second oracle had directed him to Athens to be tried before the 
court of Areopagus. The votes for and against were equal, but 
though Athena thereby declared him acquitted he did not escape 
the continued persecution of the Furies. Again Orestes sought 
counsel of Apollo at Delphi. He was bidden to convey to Attica 
from the land of the Taurians the image of Artemis worshipped 
there, with the promise that his sufferings shall end. He sails 
with his faithful friend Pylades to perform this exploit. At their 
arrival at Taurica Orestes learns from Pylades that strangers are 
sacrificed at the teinple of Artemis. He then impressed with the 
danger of their position appeals to Artemis, yy ff. 

But Orestes who thus impeached the God is reprimanded by 
Pylades not to speak evil of the oracle of the God : 

I.T. 105- 

Tov Tov deov 5e xP^Cf^o" ov KaKicrreop. 
" Nor craven may we be to the oracle." 

Then we hear Orestes say : 


46 Ernest Hcinrich Klotsche 

I.T. ii8ff.: 

... oil yap TO Tov deov y'alTiov yevqaerai 
Trefftlf OLKpavTOv dtacparov ToXixrjTiou k. t. X. 

" Best withdraw ourselves 
Unto a place where we shall lurk unseen. 
For, if his oracle fall unto the ground, 
The God's fault shall it not be. We must dare. 
Since for j^oung men toil knoweth no excuse." 

Orestes seems to mean that if we do not all we can, it will be our 
own fault if the oracle prove vain. But Orestes invariably comes 
around to his sceptical grievances and inveighs against the in- 
justice of the oracle-god: 

I.T. 711-15: 

rjfjLas 6' 6 4>oZ/3os /xdfris cov k^ptvaaro- . 
Texvqv dk ^e/xevos K. t. X. 

" Me Phoebus, prophet though he be deceived, 
And by a cunning shift from Argos drave 
Afar, for shame of those his prophecies. 
I gave up all to him, obeyed his words. 
My mother slew — and perish now myself ! " 

Orestes calls Apollo " prophet "= /idp'rts' which had come to be 
an unpopular title at the time our play was written. Then he 
charges the God with a stratagem (rexvw 5' ■dejievos) to put him 
out of the way that the falseness of his oracle might not be 
known, the first oracle commanding matricide having proved a 
mistake, cf. 77 fi. Again Orestes declares openly his judgment of 
the God : 

I. T. 723 : 

TO. 't'ot/Sou 5' ovSkv wipeKel fj,' 'iin]. 
" Phoebus' words avail me nothing now." 

But despite all the bitter attacks Orestes has made upon the 
justice of the oracle-god, towards the end of the play the oracle 
is proved right. This is nothing unusual in Euripides. In those 
of his tragedies where the Olympians appear in the most unfa- 
vorable light, their conduct is generally vindicated in the end. It 
seems that in the " Iphigenia in Tauris " the poet intended to 
make the spectators feel that the oracle of Apollo, ordaining the 


The Supernatural in the Tragedies of Euripides 47 

removal of the statue, ought not to seem fulfilled through strat- 
agem and theft. So he represents Orestes no longer as the 
despondent sceptic, but makes him argue that if their undertaking 
is in harmony with the will of Artemis, it is also in harmony with 
the will of Apollo, for a conflict between the will of Apollo and 
the will of Artemis is impossible. 

I.T. 1012-15: 

el ■Kpoaavre'i -qv roSe 
'Apt€ij.l8i, irws ai' Aortas idkatrLae 
Koixlaai ti ayoKua ??€ds iroXicrfxa IlaXXaSos 
Kal (TOP irpoaoiirov tluLheiv. 

" Hear mine opinion — if this thing displease 
Artemis, how had Loxias bidden me 
To bear her statue unto Pallas' burg — 
Yea, see thy face ? " 

This passage presents a difficulty, namely, that the meeting of 
the brother and sister (/vat adv Trpoaojirov dai-bdv) is not intimated 
in the words of the God, vv. yj ft". Palay, Seidler, and others 
assume that Apollo had not expressly said that Orestes would see 
his sister; he had probably used 0-6770^0$ (v. 86) ambiguously. 
The oracle probably was : 'hda avyyovos ^cofjiovs exet, thus apply- 
ing either to Apollo's sister Artemis, or to Orestes' sister Iphi- 
genia. Others suppose a lacuna in the text, before the words: 
Kal adv TrpoacoTov eicndelv. Verrall sees in the words : Kal aov 
■wpba: K. T. X. a kind of a pia fraus. Orestes adds them, because 
" he naturally feels that, as things turn out, the oracle ought to 
have said — then must have said — then did say doubtless — or at 
any rate mean, that he was to meet his sister." This interpreta- 
tion does not take into account Athena's words : 

I.T. 143S-42: 

TTtlTpOJukvOS yap ^i(T(}>a.TOl(TL Ao^tOU 

bevp fjXi^' 'Opkarrii, tov t' 'Epivvcov xoXov 
cl>e{jyo}v a.Bek4>ris r' Apyos elairtfxipcop 5e/xas 
iiyaXfia- t' Upov els kfir]i> a^icv x^opa. 

" For foreordained by Loxias' oracles, 
Orestes came, to escape the Erinyes' wrath, 
And lead his sister unto Argos home, 
And bear the sacred image to my land. 
So to win respite from his present woes." 


48 Ernest Heiurich KlotscJie 

If we compare these words with v. 1015 '• ^ai aov -Kpoawirov eiaiSeiv, 
it is evident that Orestes somehow or other had learned before- 
hand that he would meet his sister in Taurica. He either inferred 
this knowledge from the ambiguous avyyovos or, — as is generally 
believed, — a portion of Orestes' argument has been lost from the 
text after v. 1014, by which he explained how he obtained his 
knowledge. 

The seer Calchas interprets the burnt offerings to which Aga- 
memnon had resorted in order to learn the will of Heaven, and 
proclaims his prophecy: 

I. T. 18 ff.: 

'Ayanefj-vov, ov fxri vavs acpopurjcri;! xi'ows, 
irplv dv KopTjv ar]!/ 'Icfuyev^Lav Aprenis 
Xdj(3]7 <T(j)ayeZaav 

"Agamemnon, thou shalt not sail from the land 
Ere Artemis receive thy daughter slain, 
Iphigenia, ... 
Whom thou must offer." 

This time the seer safely escapes — strange though it is — the taunts 
Euripides always has in store for soothsayers. 

From Iphigenia's lips we hear the recital of her dream-vision: 

I. T. 42 ff. : 

& Kaiva 5' iJKei vi)^ (j)epov(Ta (ftaanara, 

Xe^w Tcpos aidep', et t' Si) t68' ear clkos k. t. X. 

" Now the Strange visions that the night has brought 
To heaven I tell — if aught of help be there. 
In sleep methought I had escaped this land 
And dwelt in Argos. In my maiden-bower 
I slept : then with an earthquake shook the ground. 
I fled, I stood without, the cornice saw 
Of the roof falling, — then, all crashing down. 
Turret and basement, hurled was the house to earth. 
. . . Now thus I read this dream of mine: 
Dead is Orestes — him I sacrificed ; — etc." 

It was held an eft"ectual method of averting the fulfillment of evil 
dreams to come out into the open air and tell them to the sky, 
as Iphigenia here does with her sinister dream, Xe^co xpos aidepa. 
This dream-vision has convinced her that her brother Orestes 


The Supernatural in the Tragedies of Euripides 49 

must be dead ; cf . also 
I.T. 348-49: 

vvv 5 6^ ovilpoiv dlcnv rj-ypioifxeda, 
SoKova' 'OpkaT-qv fxr]Kt§' ^\ioi> ^XeTreiv. 

" But now, from dreams wherebj^ mj^ heart is steeled,— 
Who deem Orestes seeth light no more." — 

and she has summoned her attendants to assist her in pouring a 
libation to him as to a spirit in Hades, vv. 61 ff. 

By the knowledge of Iphigenia's delusion in supposing her 
brother dead the spectator is led to think mainly about the fate 
of Orestes when the arrival of the two strangers is announced. 
A similar device of an ominous dream by which the spectators 
are prepared for events to come has been adopted in the " He- 
cuba," where a vision of a dappled fawn torn from Hecuba's 
knees by a wolf, portends the sacrifice of Polyxena, Hec. Qofif. 
Iphigenia here makes the mistake of interpreting the dream with 
reference to the past, while it was intended as a warning to her of 
the coming event. This trust in an ominous dream is ridiculed by 
Iphigenia ; when she hears that her brother lives, she cries : 

I.T. 569: 

^€i;5els oveipoi, x^tpeT"'' ohbtv fjr' ixpa. 
" False dreams, avaunt ! So then ye were but nought." 

And Orestes who knows nothing of her dreams adapts his words 
to hers in a characteristic reflection of his own, at the same time 
directing his attack against the Gods especially Apollo whom 
he supposes to have deceived him, and the art of divination in 
general : 

I. T. 570-75 : ^ 

ovd' oi CTo4>oi ye 8aifj.oves KeK\r]nkvoL 
irTT/jvuv bvelpwv eialv a\f/evde(TTepoi. 

" Ay, and not even Gods, whom men call wise. 
Are less deceitful than the fleeting dreams. 
Utter confusion is in things divine 
And human. Wise men grieve at this alone 
When — rashness? — no, but faith in oracles 
Brings ruin — how deep, they that prove it know." 


50 F.nirst Hcinrich Klotschc 

Dreams obtained by dream-oraeles are described by the poet as 
a kind of spurious and deceptive divination sent by Earth in vexa- 
tion for her ejected daughter Themis who alone possessed the 
power of predicting the truth. In order to punish Apollo for the 
deposition of her daughter Themis, Earth instituted a dream- 
oracle which was consulted by sleeping upon the ground by the 
shrine. Here, Earth sent up dreams, which deluded mankind, 
who trusted more to the predictions derived from dreams than to 
the oracles themselves. 

I.T. 1259 ff.: 

QtixLv 5' eTTtt 7ds lull' 
TratS' awevacraaTO Aa- 
rwos CLTTO ^adtccv 
XP'rjcTTrjpLuv, uvxi-O- x. t. \. 

" But the Child of the Earth did his coming make 

Of her birthright dispossessed, 
For the oracle-sceptre of Themis he lirake : 

Wherefore the Earth from her breast, 
To make of his pride a derision, sent forth dream-vision on 

vision, 
Whereby to sons of men the tilings that had been ere then, 

And the things for the God's decision 

Yet waiting beyond our ken, 
Through the darkness of slumber she spake, and from 
Phoebus — in fierce heart-ache 
Of jealous wrath for her daughter's sake — 

His honor so did she wrest." 

Thereupon Apollo appeals to Zeus to stop the baneful power of 
Earth, 1270 fif. Zeus puts an end to the nightly visions and con- 
firms Apollo's authority : 

I.T. 1277-83: 

iravaev pvxi^vs oveipovs, 

diri di \aBo(jvi>av 

VVKTUTTOP k^elXfv ^porijiv, K. T. X. 

" And he made an end to the voices of night ; 
For he took from mortals the dream-visitations, 
Truth's shadows upfloating from Earth's dark womb ; 
And he sealed by an everlasting right 
Loxias' honours, that all men might 


The Supernatural in the Tragedies of Euripides 51 

Trust vvhollj^ his word, when the thronging nations 
Bowed at the throne where he sang fate's doom." 

This theme is pecuh'arly in harmony with the plot of the play 
which turns on Apollo's oracle being proved right in the end, and 
Iphigenia's dream wrong. The choral ode vv. 1234 ff. celebrates 
the institution of that oracle, and the abolition of the ancient 
dream-oracles. The ode closes with a glorification of " Apollo's 
clear prophetic song " in contrast with " the divination of dark- 
ness " at Delphi : 

I.T. 1251-58: 

tKaves, S} ^ol^e, fxav- 

Ttloiv 5' eirk^as ^adeccv, k. t. X. 

" Tliou, Phoebus, didst slay him, didst take for thine 
The oracle's lordship, the right divine. 
And still on the tripod of gold are keeping 

Thy session, dispensing to us, to the race 
Of men, revelation of heaven's design, 
From thy throne of truth, from the secret shrine, 
By the streams through Castaly's cleft up-sweeping, 

Where the heart of the world is thy dwelling-place." 

11. The Troades 

The "Troades" is a vivid picture of the miseries endured by 
noble Trojan dames — Hecuba, Andromache, Cassandra — imme- 
diately after the capture of Troy. Measured by the usage of the 
stage the piece is not a perfect play, but it is full of tragic scenes, 
— less a drama than a pathetic spectacle. The concluding scene, 
where the captive women, allotted as slaves to dififerent masters, 
leave Troy in flames behind them, and are led towards the ships, 
is truly grand. Euripides produced the " Troades " when the 
great fleet of the Athenians was getting ready to sail for the con- 
quering of Sicily (415), as though he were foreboding this fatal 
expedition that brought Athens to her doom. Murray, therefore, 
calls the "Troades" "the work rather of a prophet than a mere 
artist," and we may add : the work of a prophet whose words are 
life and truth in our days as well as in the days of Euripides. 
Never can a great tragedy seem more real to us, than the " Tro- 


52 Ernest HeinricJi Klotsche 

jan Women," at this moment of the history of the world. To 
the people of the present day might the prophetess Cassandra 
speak her message just as well as to those nearly three thousand 
years ago : 

" Sooth, he were best shun war, whoso is wise : 
If war must be, his country's crown of pride 
Is death heroic, craven death her shame." 

(400-02.) 

And Poseidon, when mourning over the fall of Troy, has the 
same to say of the terrors of war, which we have to say of them 
to-day : 

" Fool, that in sack of towns lays temples waste. 
And tombs, the sanctuaries of the dead ! 
He, sowing desolation, reaps destruction." 

(95^7-) 

Euripides generally employs a God, through whom the predic- 
tion of the future in the finales of his tragedies is made. In the 
" Troades " he uses the more impressive method of a mortal 
soothsayer to reveal the future. Cassandra in a state of frenzy 
-comes on the stage (308), singing a wild strain on her supposed 
nuptials with the Argive king. Then she imparts to Hecuba a 
long prophecy. She sees the vision of Agamemnon's body — 
murdered by his wife — and other impending events. Talthybius 
intervenes and receives a summary of the future wanderings of 
Odysseus. Finally she declares that she will come a victress to 
Hades after the death of herself and Agamemnon : vv. 353-460. 

At times Euripides is openly iconoclastic in dealing with cur- 
rent religious practice. Even prayer and sacrifices are sometimes 
regarded as of doubtful aid. A striking instance is found in the 
prayer which he puts into the mouth of ITecuba: 

Tr. 469-71 : 

w diol- KaKovs fJ-iv avaKoXw tovs ci'/u/uaxous, 

oraif Tis r)y.<jiv bvarvxv ^o-^V t^XV^- 
" O Gods ! to sorry helpers I appeal ; 
Yet to invoke the Gods hath some fair show 
When child of man on evil fortune lights." 


The Supernatural in the Tragedies of Euripides 53 

A bold sentiment, indeed, plainly indicating a disbelief in the 
popular theology ! The same idea recurs in the following verses 
where Hecuba says : 

Tr. 1280-81: 

Iw deal. Kal tI roiis Seovs KaXco; 

Kal irplv yap ovk fiKovaav avaKa\ovfj.€V0L. 

" O ye Gods ! — why call I on the Gods ? 
For called on heretofore they hearkened not ! " 

and vv. 1240 ff. she says: 

" Nought was in Heaven's design, save woes to me 
And Troy, above all cities loathed of them. 
In vain wc sacrificed ! " 

In these passages is expressed the inmost theme of the whole 
play, a search for an answer to the question: if the righteous are 
not treated better in this life than the wicked, if injustice triumphs 
over justice, what must we think of the Gods? "Such Gods are 
as a matter of fact the moral inferiors to good men, and Euripides 
will never blind his eyes to their inferiority ; and as soon as peo- 
ple see that their God is bad, they tend to cease believing in his 
existence at all." (Murray, Troj. Women.) 

The same thought that the Gods turn a deaf ear to the cries of 
mankind in distress finds expression in the following choral ode: 

Tr. 1060 ff.: 

OVTO} 8r] TOP tv Wlw 

vaov . . . irpovSiiinas . . . w Zeu, . . . ava^ 

ovpavi.ov 'ibpavov €7rt/3e/3d)s 

al^kpa t' eyuas vroXeos okop.kvas, k. t. X. 

" So then thy temple in Troy fair-gleaming. 
And thine altar of incense heavenward steaming 

Hast thou rendered up to our foes Achsean, 
O Zeus, and the flame of our sacrificing, etc. . . . 
Dost thou care, O King, I muse, heart-aching, — 
Thou who sittest on high in the far blue heaven 
Enthroned, — that my city to ruin is given, etc." 

Long before Euripides Homer had represented Zeus as aldepi 
valuiv, cf. Iliad II, 412. In vv 1078-79 Euripides shows us Zeus 
enthroned on his celestial seat and on ether, while in other pas- 


54 Ernest Heinrich Klotschc 

sages he confounds the dweller in the ether with his dwelling so 
that ether and Zeus are one, cf. Fragm. 596, 869. 935. 

The curious prayer of Hecuba shows how vacillating Euripides' 
view on this subject was : 

Tr. 884-88: 

03 7^s oxw Kairl ■yr)s tx^^ ibpav, 
offTis ttot' tl (TV, dvcTTOTracTTos eidivat, 
Zeiis, etr' 6.i>ayKr] c^uffeos elre vovs fiporuv, 
Trpoar]v^anriv ere- Travra yap bl a^6<t)OV 
^ati'coi' KeKevdov Kara. blKi)v ra dfrir' ayu<;. 

" O Earth's Upbearer, thou whose throne is Earth, 
Whoe'er thou be, O past our finding out, 
Zeus, be thou Nature's law, or Mind of Man, 
Thee I invoke ; for, treading soundless paths. 
To Justice' goal thou bring'st all mortal things." 

The audience may well have echoed Menelaus' exclamation : 

Tr. 889: 

tL 6' eaTLv; evxo-s cos e/caificras decop. 
"How now? — what strange prayer this unto the Gods?" 

This prayer was of a new kind, indeed! Zeus had never heard 
its like. — What do we find in it? All through the play Hecuba 
is a woman of remarkable intellectual power and of fearless 
thought. She treats the Olympian Gods as beings that have be- 
trayed her, and whose names she scarcely deigns to speak. Zeus, 
if there is such a being at all, is either the air, that both sustains 
the earth and rests upon it, or the irresistible power of nature to 
produce all things after a certain law ; or else intellect, or, rather 
the directing agency which ordains all things from the first and 
which exists in the soul of every man. She is far from denying 
the existence of a divine power, and yet in her prayer she rejects 
all current polytheism. In the first place we have in this prayer 
the poet's customary identification of Zeus with ether. Here we 
notice the influence of Anaximenes and especially of Diogenes of 
Apollonia. The theory that the earth is supported by the air is 
ascribed by Plutarch (Mor. 896 E) to Anaximenes, and by Aris- 
totle (De Cselo H, 13) to Anaximenes, Anaxagoras, and De- 
mocritus. The following words of Anaximenes imply this view : 


The Supernatural in the Tragedies of Euripides 55 

" Even as our soul, which is air, holds us together, so breath 
(Tvevtio) and air encompass the whole universe." The doctrine 
that the supreme Godhead is the Air is ascribed by Cicero in De 
Nat. Deor. I, 29, to Diogenes of Apollonia. Diogenes deified air 
and spoke of it as omnipresent. It is by virtue of its intelligence, 
according to Diogenes, that " the element of Air steers all things 
and has power over all things." Then in line 886 Euripides gives 
us a pantheistic interpretation of Zeus. The divine principle, 
which the common people in ignorance of its nature call Zeus, 
shows itself as intellect in the mind of man {vovs ^porcbv), and as 
necessary and immutable law in nature (avajKr] (jyvaeoos), of which 
he says Ale. 965 : that above it there is nothing {Kpelaaov ov8eu 
avayKrjs); cf. also Helen 514! Seti'TJs avayKrjs oiiSev laxveLv irXeov. 
This pantheism finds expression elsewhere in Euripides' poetry. 
In Fragm. 935 he identifies divinity with all embracing ether: 

" Seest thou the boundless ether there on high, 
That folds the earth around with dewy arms? 
This deem thou Zeus, this reckon one with God." 

Cf. also Fragm. 596. Such utterances explain how Aristophanes 
should have accused Euripides of convincing men that there are 
no Gods. Finally in the last verse of the prayer the poet charac- 
terizes the divine reason as world-ruling Justice. To Euripides 
Justice and God are one, cf. also El. 771 : 

"Gods! All-seeing Justice thou hast come at last!" 

Euripides conceives of Justice as a quasi-personal being, the 
"Weltgeist" or " Weltvernunft " as the German critic Nestle 
calls it in his " Euripides," a being not transcendent but immanent 
in all things, forming and directing all things to universal har- 
mony. This idea which preeminently pervades the dramas of 
Sophocles was generally not carried out by Euripides and recon- 
ciled with the inequality of the distribution of blessings and evils 
among men. So also Hecuba's prayer breathes discord rather 
than harmony. "If there is any explanation, any justice, she will 
be content and give worship (Trpoarjv^aiJLrjv ae), but it seems that 
there is not." 


56 Ernest Hcinrich Klotsche 

12. The Helena 

This play is founded on a strange variation of the Helen-legend, 
in which Helen was borne away by Hermes to Eg)^pt and detained 
there, while only a wraith of Helen passed to Troy. She lived 
like a true wife in Egypt until Menelaus rescued her from Theo- 
clymenus, king of the land, and brought her safely back to Greece. 

The play is not one of the poet's happier efforts ; it furnishes, 
however, considerable material of the supernatural element. 

Helen's prayer to Hera and Aphrodite is a line and impressive 
one inspired by the energy of despair : 

Hel. 1093 flf. : 

w TTOTVL fj Aioicnv kv Xe/crpots 

lipa, 611' oLKTpcb (^ojt' avaxpv^ov irovoiv, 

alrov/ieS^ opdas coXei'as wpos ovpavov k. t. X. 

" O Queen, who restest on the couch of Zeus, 
Hera, to hapless twain grant pause from ills, 
We pray, with arms flung upward to the sky. 
Thy mansion wrought with arabesque of stars. 
And thou, by mine hand winner of beauty's prize, 
Cypris, Dione's child, destroy me not ! 
Enough the scathe thou hast done me heretofore, 
Lending my name, not me, to alien men : 
But let me die, if 'tis thy will to slay. 
In homeland, etc." 

Of the same character is ]\Ienelaus' prayer to Poseidon: 

Hel. 1584-87: 

w vaicj}v aXa 
woTPie Hoaftoov k. t. X. 

" . . . O Sea-abider 
Poseidon, and ye, Nereus's daughters pure. 
Me bring ye and my wife to Xauplia's shores, 
Safe from this land." 

Menelaus sends another impressive prayer to Zeus, in which he 
points out that he had acted toward the Gods the part of a pious 
man, yet he adds, as if upbraiding them for their present neglect: 
" Not endless ills I merit." 

Hel. 1441-51 : 

J) Zei', iraTTjp re Kal ffo^os xXjlfet deos, 

. . . 6<^eiXw 5' ovK ael Trpaaativ kukus k. t. X. 


The Supernatural in the Tragedies of Euripides 57 

" Zeus, Father art thou called, and the Wise God : 
Look upon us, and from our woes redeem ; 
And as we drag our fortunes up the steep, 
Lay to thine hand : a finger-touch from thee, 
And good-speed's haven long desired we win. 
Suffice our travail heretofore endured. 
Oft have ye been invoked, ye Gods, to hear 
My joys and griefs: no endless ills I merit, 
But in plain paths to tread. Grant this one boon. 
And happy shall ye make me all my days." 

The prayer of the chorus tends to the same purport: 

Hel. 855-56: 

0} deal, yevka'dio 5r] ttot' evrvx^s yepos 
TO TavToXeiov Kal neraffT-qTco kukuv. 

" Gods, grant at least fair fortune to the line 
Of Tantalus, and rescuing from ills ! " 

Menelaus prays to his dead father-in-law, and to Hades. He 
is well aware that though the dead cannot restore Helen, the re- 
quest will not be altogether vain : 

Hel. 926 flf. : 

S) ykpov, OS oUels TovSe 'Kawov Ta4>ov, 
aTTodos, ctTratraJ Trji> efxriv Sanaprd ere, k. t. X. 

" O ancient, dweller in this tomb of stone. 
Restore thy trust : I claim of thee my wife. 
Sent hither of Zeus to thee, to ward for me. 
Thou who art dead, canst ne'er restore, I know : 
But this thy child will think scorn that her sire. 
Glorious of old, from the underworld invoked 
Have infamy, etc. 

O Hades, on thy championship I call, 
. . . render back my wife." 

The prophetess Theonoe advises Helen to pray to the Gods, w. 
1024 fif., and to address to her dead father the following prayer: 

Hel. 1028-29: 

ail 5', 03 davuv ^tot irdrep, oaov y eyui adtfu, 
ovTTOTe K€K\r]<jii Svffffe^ris olvt evaefiovs. 

" And thou, dead sire, so far as in me lies. 
Impious for righteous ne'er shalt be misnamed." 


58 Ernest Heinrich Klotsche 

It is against the art of soothsaying and those who make it their 
business of interpreting the tliglit of birds and other signs of the 
divine will, that the attacks of Euripides are more especially di- 
rected, and for the common trust in omens and prophecies he has 
only ridicule. At Athens especially prophecies sprang up like 
mushrooms. Soothsayers of all sorts plied a lively trade and 
were regarded as " fond of money." Even Sophocles, who treats 
them and their predictions with respect and even with awe, alludes 
to this notorious quality of the soothsayers, Antig. 1055, where 
Creon says to Teiresias : 

TO fxavTiKov yap wdv (i)i\apyvpov yevos. 
" The race of seers is ever fond of mone}-." 

Euripides defines the idavr to be " one who speaks few truths, 
but many lies " (Iph. A. 957), and his most bitter invective against 
the art of divination is contained in our play : 

Hel. 744-57: 

aXXd rot TO. pavreuv 
icreldov cos <j)av\^ iarl Koi \ieL'5<if TrXta. 
ovK rjv ap' vyiis ovdev ipirvpov <{)}\.oy6s 
ov8e TTTepoiTOiif ipdeytxar • tvrjdes 5e tol 
TO Kal doKelv oppi^as d)<f)e\elv PpoToi)^. 

K. T. X. 

tL drJTa navTevopeda; toIs 'Seolai XP^" 
dvovTas alTiTf ayada, fjLavrelas 8' edv 
^iov yap ctXXcos deXeap -qvpktJr] rode, 
Kovdels eirXovTrjcr^ ep.Trvpoi.cnv apyos cbv 
yvcopr; 5' aplarr] p.dvTLS fi t' evjSovXia. 

"... But the lore of seers, 
How vain it is I see, how full of lies. 
Utterly naught then were the altar-flames. 
The voices of winged things ! Sheer folh^ this 
Even to dream that birds may help mankind. 
Calchas told not, nor gave sign to the host, 
Yet saw, when for a cloud's sake died his friends : 
Not Hclenus told ; but Troy for nought was stormed ! 
' Yea, for the Gods forbade,' thou mightest say. 
Why seek 3^e then to seers? With sacrifice 
To Gods, ask blessings : let soothsayings be. 
They were but as a bait for greed devised : 
No sluggard getteth wealth through divination. 
Sound wit, with prudence, is the seer of seers." 


The Supernatural in tlie Tragedies of Euripides 59 

As the tragedy of " Helen " was played in 412 shortly after the 
Sicilian expedition which had ended so disastrously, it is probable 
that Euripides directed these invectives against the soothsayers 
whom he regarded as mischievous tools in the hands of the war 
party, and who as such had especially urged the people to under- 
take the expedition. Euripides was not the only one who at- 
tacked this " worthless class of idlers " ; cf . the scene in Arist. 
Birds. 959-991. 

Beside this well-known passage where the poet so violently 
attacks the art of divination, we have in the same play other pas- 
sages regarding the same object, where Euripides follows the 
traditional belief and represents Theonoe, the prophetess and 
sister of Theoclymenus, as a true oracle possessing supernatural 
knowledge. Referring to her Helen says : 

Hel. 819: 

cot' evSov avTU) ^ii/i/xaxos ^eoZs tar], 
" An ally wise as Gods he hath within." 

and Helen again asserts : 

Hel. 861^2: 

aiTOvcra yap ae Kal irapoua a.4>Lyixkvov 
8evp olSev. 

" Present or absent still she knows of thee, 
How thou art come." 

From the sequel of the play we know that the prophetess con- 
trols Destiny ; Theonoe herself declares : 

Hel. 887 ff. : 

TtKos 5 e0 i7Mt'', eti'' o. ^ovXerai Kvirpis 

K. T. X. 

" The issue rests with me — to tell nij^ brother, 
As Cypris wills, thy presence, ruining thee, 
Or, standing Hera's ally, save thy life, etc." 

Theonoe chooses to save IMenclaus and Helen, and the decision of 
the Gods follows that of the prophetess. 

Allusion to vision is made when Helen, aware of the imreality 
of the Trojan Helen, exclaims : 


6o Ernest Hcinrich Klotsche 

Hel. 119: 

"What if he nursed a heaven-sent phantasy?" 
and when ]Menelaus exclaims: 
Hel. 569: 

" Light-bearer Hecate, send gracious visions ! " 

Menelaus appeals to Hecate, since spectres and phantoms were 
regarded as the attendants of that Goddess. 

Respect for the word of an oath is expressed by ]\Ienelaus: 

Hel. 977-79: 

opKois KeKkV/Jted', ws [xadris, k. t. X. 
" Know, maiden, I have bound me by an oath 
To dare thy brother, first, unto the fight : 
Then he or I must die, my word is passed." 

An example of a ciirsc-oatli is contained in 

Hel. 835-41 : 

E: dXX' a~/v6v opKov aov Kapa Karoc/jioaa 

^I : Tt <i>ris; davelcrdat kovttot' dXXd^eti' Xex'?! 

E: TavTih ^icpei ye- Kelaop.ai 5e crov TreXas. 

M: fTTL TolaSe roivvv Se^ids eju^s diye. 

E: xj/avoi, OavovTos aov rod' iK\ii\petv (paos. 

"M: Kayij} aTeprjdeU uov TeXev-rjao: 0iov. 

H: " Naj^ by thine head I swear a solemn oath — '' 

M : " How ? — Wilt thou die ere thou desert thy lord ? " 

H : " Yea, by thy sword : beside thee will I lie." 

M : " Then, for this pledge, lay thou thine hand in mine." 

H: "I clasp — I swear to perish if thou fall." 

M: "And I. of thee bereft, to end my life." 

Helen when swearing invokes the river Eurotas to witness : 

Hel. 348 ff. : 

ae yap tKoKeaa, ae 8i Karonocra, 

Tov vSpoevra 56vaKi. x^^po" EupcoTai', k. t. X. 

" Thee I invoke, I swear bj' thy name. 

O river with ripple-washed reed-beds green, 
Eurotas! — if true was the word that came 
That my lord on the earth is no more seen." 


The Supernatural in the Tragedies of Euripides 


6i 


13. The Phceniss^ 

The subject of the " Phcenisss " is the same as that of the 
^schylean play: "The Seven against Thebes," namely, the war 
of succession between Polyneices and Eteocles. 

locaste who speaks the prologue prays for her two sons, Poly- 
neices and Eteocles : 

Phcen. 84-87: 

AXX' CO <f>aevva.s ovpavov valuiv -KTyxo-s 
ZeD, ddaov rinas, 86s 5k avix0aai.v reKwis. 
Xpri 5', ei <^o<p6s Trk(f>vKas, oiiK kdv ^porbv 
rov avTOV ad bvcTTVXV Ka&taravai. 
" O dweller Zens in heaven's veiling light, 
Save us, grant reconciling to my sons ! 
Thou oughtest not, so thou be wise, to kave 
The same man overcome to be unblest." 

In Antigone's prayer addressed to Nemesis : 

Phcen. 182 ff. : 

NeMeo-t Ktti Atos ^apv^poixoi ^povrai, 
KepavvGiv T€ 4>Ci% al'9a\6ev, <^v tol 
fxeyaXayopiav virepavopa Koi/xtfets- 

" O Nemesis, O ye thunders rolling deep 
Of Zeus, thou flaming light of his levin, 
Overweening vaunts dost thou hush into endless sleep ! 

the imprecation is impUed : "the haughty boastings of man dost 
thou silence; mayest thou silence his!" i.e., Capaneus . Then 
Antigone appeals to Artemis : 

Phcen. 190-92: 

ixi]TOT€ ixriiroTe ravS', do iroTVia, k. r. X., 
' AprenL, 8ov\offvvav rXatTjj'. 
"Never, ah, never, O Artemis Queen, 
Zeus' child with tresses of golden sheen. 
Bowed under bondage may I be seen 1 " 

The chorus appeal to the Gods to reconcile the two brothers: 
Phoen. 586-87: 

w deoi, yevoiade rcbvd' airoTpoTOi kclkuv 
Kal ^vfiPaa-lv riv OiSivroL' rkKvoiS Sort. 
" Ah Gods, be ye averters of these ills, 
And set at one the sons of CEdipus ! " 


62 Ernest Hcinrich Klotschc 

Polyneices having resigned and abjured his native Gods, prays 
to the Argive Hera, whose votary he had become, to assist him in 
slaying his brother: 

Phoen. 1365-68: 

w ttStvi Hpa, cos yap tl/j.', tirtl 7a/iois 
efeu^' ' AdpdcTTOv iralda Kal vaioi x^ova, 
86s fioi KTaviiv abtK4>6v, Aprijpr} 8 ktJ.r\v 
Kadainarcbaai de^idv viKr)<i)6pov. 

" Queen Hera, — for thine am I since I wed 
Adrastus' child, and dwell within thy land, — 
Grant me to slay my brother, and to stain 
My warring hands witli blood of victory! " 

Eteocles prays to Pallas : 

Phoen. 1373-76 : 

CO Atos Kopr], 
86s ^7X0^ W'*" KaWiviKov «K' x^pos 
els (TTtpj'' a8e\(j)ov Tijad' (xtt' tliXevrjs ^a\elv 
KTavtiv t?' OS ffKde waTpida Tzopdrjaiov 'tpr\v. 

"... Daughter of Zeus, 
Grant that the conquering spear, of mine hand sped. 
Yea, from this arm, may smite mj^ brother's breast, 
And slay him who hath come to waste my land ! " 

The two brothers met their doom owing to a curse pronounced 
upon them by their father. In a fit of anger GLdipus had pro- 
nounced on his sons that they might share the kingdom with the 
sword : 

Phcen. 67-68: 

dpds apdrai Traicrlv dvoffiooTCiTas, 
drjKTw ai8r)pu Schfxa SiaXaxilv T68e. 

" A curse most impious hurled he at his sons, 
That they might share their heritage with the sword." 

They fearing the accomplishment of the curse had agreed to rule 
by turns for a year : 

" They terror-stricken lest, if they should dwell 
Together, Gods might bring the curse to pass, 
Made covenant that Polyneices first, 
The younger, self-exiled, should leave the land. 


The Supernatural in the Tragedies of Euripides 63 

That Eteocles, tarrying wear the crown 
One j'ear — then cliange." (vv. 69-74.) 

See also 474-75 ; and 624, where the mother locaste admonishes 
her sons : 

" Flee, O flee j-our father's curses ! " 

See also 765 and 1355. The fate imprecated upon the sons of 
CEdipus is inevitable although the two sons fancied they could 
outwit the Gods : 

" And OLdipus' sons, who fain had cloaked it over 
With time, as though they could outrun the Gods, 
In folly erred" (vv. 872-74). 

The chorus exclaim : 

Phoen. 1425-26: 

<j>ev (t>tv, KaKuv auv, OISLttov, <r oawv arkvco- 
ras ffds 6' dpds eoLKev iKTrXrjaai i?e6s. 

" Alas ! I wail thy sore griefs, QLdipus ! 
Thy malisons, I wot, hath God fulfilled." 

From these passages we learn that destiny can be aroused by the 
huinan will in a curse,' and in this case the curse becomes a part 
of destiny and sways the fate of its victims. In vv. 1595 ff. 
CEdipus speaks of a hereditary transmission of the curse which 
works down to the grandchildren and even utterly extirpates a 
race : 

Phoen. 1608-14: 

KTavcov 8 knavTov Trarkp' 6 Suadai/j.aji' kyw 

tls nrjTpds r}\dov Tfjs ToKanruipov Xexos, 

■Kolbas T a8e\(f)0vs 'irtKov, ovs airuiXeaa. 

dpds TvapaXapuv Aatov Kai irai-crl dovs. k. t. X. 

" So mine own father did I slay, and came, — 
Ah wretch ! — unto mine hapless mother's couch. 
Sons I begat, my brethren, and destroyed, 
Passing to them the curse of Laius. 
For not so witless am I from the birth. 
As to devise these things against mine eyes 
And my sons' life, but by the finger of God." 


64 Ernest Heinrich Klotsche 

Cf. also ^sch. Eum. 934 ff. The Greeks modified their theory of 
the hereditary transmission of a curse by arguing that each gen- 
eration commits new sins. 

The poet's opinion in regard to the importance of dreams is 
iUustrated by the following simile. The feeble trembling feet of 
CEdipus are like a dream in respect of strength : 

Plicen. 1721-22 : 

Tg.8e T^Se 0adi /xot., 

TaSe rade iroda rldeL k. t. X. 

" Let thy feet follow hither mine hand, 

strengthless as dream of the night!" 

A few examples of oath are found in our play. Polyneices calls 
the Gods to witness that it is against his own will to take up arms 
against his relation : 

Phoen. 433-34: 

deoiis 5' eTrcofxatr' ws aKovaicos 
Tois <t>i\rdTois knovffiv ripdfjir]i> 86pv. 

" And. hy the Gods I swear, unwillingly 

1 lift the spear against my father's house." 

Polyneices expresses his indignation at his brother Eteocles 
who has not kept what he had promised under oath : 

Phcen. 481-83 : 

6' alcecas rai'i?' opKcovs re Sous t?eoi)s, 
'iSpacTev ovdev oiv virecrxeT', k. t. X. 

" And he consented, in the God's sight swore. 
Yet no whit keepeth troth, but holdeth still 
The kingship and mine half the heritage." 

and angrily proceeds : 

Phoen. 491-93 : 

judpTi'pas 8i T(i)v8i Saipova^ KaXoi, 
us TavTa irpdaaui' aiiv b'lKxi, Sutjs drep 
6.iro(TTepovpai iraTpiSos avoffiurara. 

"... I call the Gods to witness this — 
That, wholly dealing justly, robbed am I 
Of fatherland, unjustly, impiously." 


The Supernatural in the Tragedies of Euripides 65 

and again he exclaims : 
Phcen. 626-27: 

rijv 5e dpexpacrav ij,€ yalav Kal ^toiis fxaprvpofxat, 

cos CLTLixos oiKTpa Tva.<Jx<^v k^eXavvofiat x^ovos, k. t. X. 

" I call to witness earth that nursed me, witness Gods in heaven, 
How with shame and piteous usage from the home-land I am 
driven, etc." 

For oath in general see vv. 1240-41 : 

" On these terms made they truce, and in mid-space 
The chiefs took oaths whereby they should abide." 

As regards the prophecies and oracles in our play the poet's 
usual vacillation is obvious. On the one hand he treats the sub- 
ject in harmony with the popular belief and shows that oracles 
are inexorably fulfilled ; on the other hand he shows his wonted 
contempt for the prophets and their functions. So he makes 
CEdipus profess that Phoebus' oracles inevitably come true : 

Phoen. 1595-99: 

ayouov AttoWop Aatoj p. kdtcnricre k. r. X. 

" Ere from my mother's womb I came to light, 
Phoebus to Laius spake me, yet unborn, 
My father's murderer — etc." 

and Phcen. 1703 and 05: 

vw xPV^f^os, 0} waZ, Ao^iov ■Kepalverai. 
tv rals ' K-&TivaLS KaT^avelv p* aXdcpevov. 

" Now, child, doth Loxias' oracle come to pass. 
That I, a wanderer, should in Athens die." 

The choral ode vv. 638 ft. relates the fulfillment of the oracle 
which enjoined Cadmus to found a city wherever a heifer driven 
from a certain herd should throw itself upon the ground: 

Phoen. 640-42: 

poaxo^ ahapavTov Tricrrjpa 
5tK£ TtKe(j4>6pov hibovaa. 
XP'ri(Tp6v, ov KaroLKicraL k. t. X. 

" That so was accomplished the oracle spoken 
When the God for the place of his rest gave token, etc." 


66 Ernest Hcinrich Klotsche 

The oracle contained in vv. 409 ff. is an example that oracles 
present an inevitable future in terms that are dim, ambiguous, 
equivocal, ironical : 

Phoen. 409 and 411 : 

ixpTfCF^ 'A5pa(rT(^ Aortas xPV^t^o" Tiva. 
KaTTpcj) 'KiofTl d' apfxoaoLi. iraiSup yafxovs. 

" To Adrastus Loxias spake an oracle : 
' Tln^ daughters wed to a lion and a boar.' " 

Eteocles who formerly had mocked at the seer Teiresias admits 
that he cannot dispense with the seer's advice concerning an im- 
portant undertaking : 

Phoen. 766 : 

iv 6' iarli' rinlv dpyov, ei rt i)t(j4>aTov 
oliovotxavTis Tetpectas ex*'' 4>po.<yoLi., 
rovo' eKTTvdecrdai ravr'- . . . 
eyw di Tkxvt\v ptavTiKijv kn^ix^pafx-qv k. t. X. 

" One thing abides undone, to ask the seer 
Teiresias touching this, if aught he hath 
Of oracles to tell. ... 

But the seer's art in time past liave I mocked 
Unto his face ; so he may bear me grudge." 

The aged seer Teiresias led by his daughter enters the stage 
saying : 

Plioen. 838-40: 

K\ripovs re ^lo^ (pvXaacre Ttapdkvui xepl, k. t. X. 
" Guard in thy maiden hand the augury-lots 
Which, when I marked the bodings of the birds, 
In the holy seat I took, where I divine." 

The " augury-lots " {K\r)povs) are the notes which the seer had 
written down after having observed the flight of the birds. 

Teiresias claims to have secured through the art of divination 
the victory for Athens over Eleusis and displays as his reward a 
golden crown, the first-fruits of the spoil: ■ • 

Phcen. 854-58: 

. . . Kal rbvbe xpvffo'j*' <TTt4>ai'0P, ojs opas, *x<^ 
Xa/Scoj' &wapxo.s TroXefiiuv cTKvXevfiaTiov. 


The Supernatural iu llie Tragedies of Euripides 6y 

" There too was war, against Eumolpus' spear, 
Where I to Cecrops' sons gave victory. 
This crown of gold, as thou mayst see, have I 
As firstfruits of the foemen's spoil received." 

Then Teiresias being urged to declare the truth, affirms that 
the sole hope of the safety of Thebes lies in the sacrifice of 
Creon's only son, Menoecus : 

Phoen. 911-14: 

cLKove 617 vvv t?ecT<pdTcov tixiov bbov 
atpa^ai Mei'otKij Tovde del a virep irarpas 
aov TraZS', (.TreLSrj t7}v tvxV o-vto), KaXels. 

" Hear tlien the tenor of mine oracle, 
What deed of yours shall save the Thebans town. 
Menoecus must thou slay for fatherland. 
Thy son — since thou thyself demandest fate." 

Teiresias leaves the stage with the following characteristic 
words upon his lips : 

Phoen. 954-59: 

ocrrts 5' eyUTrupw XPV'''"-'- Tex^H, 
fxaraios' fiv (xiv exJ?P<i ff-qiJ.'qvas ti'X!7, 
TTiKpos KaxJkcTTrix ols av olcovoaKOTrf]- 
yf^evdij 6' inr' o'iktov roiai, xP'<JM«fots X'tyoiv 
adiKei to. rihv x}tuiv. ^olfiov avd picirois jxbvov 
XPVv i^eairioidelv, os 8e8oLKev ovdkva. 

"... Who uses the diviner's art 
Is foolish. If he heraldeth ill things. 
He is loathed of those to whom he prophecies. 
If pitying them that seek to him, he lie, 
He wrongs the Gods. Sole prophet unto men 
Ought Phoebus to have been, who feareth none." 

Euripides renders his condemnation of the soothsayers most 
effective when he makes the aged seer himself confess that sooth- 
sayers often do not dare to tell the truth to those that consult 
them and therefore arc compelled to cheat their clients in order 
not to give offence. No wonder that Creon says to his son : 

Phoen. 971 : 

aKoXaar' eacras p-avreoiv dtairlcrpaTa. 

" Heed not tlie reckless words of soothsayers." 


68 Ernest Heinrich Klotsche. 

14. The Electra 

The "Electra," produced about 413, treats of the same subject 
as the " Choephorse " of /Eschylus, and the " Electra " of Soph- 
ocles, namely the return of Orestes from exile, and his revenge 
upon Clytemnestra. 

The chorus admonish Electra to worship the Gods and pray to 
them: 

El. 194-97: 

ixr\ TifiiLcra deovs, Kpari)- 
ativ ex'^pojv; ovtol crTocaxats, 
dXX' ei'xaio't ^fovs atfii- 
^ova^ e^ets evanepiav, w iral. 

" If thou give honour not to Gods, shall bring 
Thy foes low? — reverencing 
The Gods with prayers, not groans, shalt thou obtain 
Clear shining after rain." 

but Electra answers : 
El. 198-200: 

oi'dels deoiv (voTras KXi'ti 
rds dvadainovos, ov TraXat- 
wv Tvarpos (T<j)ayiaffijubi>. 

" No God regards a wretch's cries. 
Nor heeds old flames of sacrifice 
Once on my father's altar burning." 

and yet in her distress she prays desperately : 

El. 221 : 

w $01)3' ' AttoWop, TrpocTTTtTj'w ae /ut) daveiv. 
" Phoebus, T pray thee that I be not slain ! " 

Electra is exhorted by the Old Man to pray to the Gods : 

El. 563 and 565: 

J) ttStvI, tvxov, dvyartp 'HXe/ixpa, i9eots 
'Kafftiv <f>L\ov drjaavpdv, 5v fpalvei i?e6s. 

" Daughter, Electra — princess ! — pray to the Gods — 
To win the precious treasure God reveals ! " 

and she replies : 


The Supernatural in the- Tragedies of Euripides 69 

El. 566: 

l5ov, KoKH} t}covs. 
" Lo, I invoke them." 

The prayer in vv. 671 ft", which is according to Murray's ar- 
rangement in turn recited by Orestes, Electra, and the Old Man, 
contains also an invocation of the dead: 

El. 671-83 : 

O. CO ZeD iraTpue Kal rpoTral' ex'^P'^*' tp-^v, 

H. OLKTeipe t?' rjnas, olKTpa yap weir6i>dap.cv, k. t. X. 

O. " My father's God, Zeus, smiter of my foes," 
E. " Pity us : pitiful our wrongs have been." 

O. M. "Yea, pity those whose lineage is of thee!" 
E. " Queen of Mycenae's altars, Hera, help ! " 
O. " Grant to us victory, if we claim the right." 

O. M. " Grant for their father vengeance unto these ! " 
E. " O Earth, O Queen, on whom I lay mine hands," 
O. " Father, by foul wrong dweller 'neath the earth," 

O. M. " Help, help them, these thy children best-beloved," 
O. " Come ! bring all those thy battle-helpers slain " 
E. " All them whose spears with thee laid Phrygians low," 

O. M. " Yea, all which hate defilers impious ! " 

O. " Hear'st thou, O foully-entreated of my mother?" 

This prayer to the dead father presupposes the presence of the 
spirit of the dead, his sympathy and co-operation with the sur- 
viving kinsmen. Electra asserts (v. 684) : 

" Our sire hears all, I know." 

In the following invocation of the Gods Electra identifies the 
Gods with world-ruling Justice : 

El. 771 : 

CO i?€ot, ALkt) re Trdi'i? opcoo , fiXOis rrore. 
" Gods ! All-seeing Justice thou hast come at last ! " 

Orestes has come by divine command to avenge his father's 
death : 

El. 87-89: 

d<i>lyiJ,aL 6' Ik ^eov xP'7<'''''7piwi' k. t. X. 


"JO Ernest Heinrich Klotsche 

"... At Phcebus' oracle-hest I come 
To Argos' soil, none privy thereunto, 
To paj' my father's murderers murder-wage." 

Orestes expresses his belief in Apollo's oracles, but has no re- 
gard for the tribe of soothsayers : 

El. 399-400: 

S.oi,lov yap enireSoi 
XprjffijLoi, PpoTuv be fxavTLKTiv xaiptiv fH}. 

"... ; for Loxias' oracles 
Fail not. Of men's soothsaying will I none." 

In the end of the play the Dioscuri suddenly appear and abuse 
Apollo on account of his oracle which has brought about the 
dreadful events, but he is their superior and therefore they cannot 
speak too plainly : 

El. 1296-97 : 

irpd^iv <t>oviav. 

"... for on Phoebus I lay the guilt 
Of the blood thou hast spilt, etc." 

Likewise lays Orestes the responsibility for the murder of Cly- 
temnestra and its consequences at the door of Apollo : 

El. 971 and 973 : 

w <l>oI/3<, TToWrjv 7' d/jiadlav tdkuinaas., 
'6(TTL<i fj,' exP'Jffas fir]Ttp', fji> ov xPWj KTavclv. 

" O Phoebus, folly exceeding was thine best — 
Who against nature bad'st me slaj- mj- mother ! " 

and El. 1190-96: 

to) <I>oij8', avvfivriaas dlKav. k. t. X. 
" Phoebus, the deed didst thou commend 

Aye whispering ' Justice.' Thou hast bared 
The deeds of darkness, and made end, 

Through Greece, of lust that murder dared. 
But me what land shall shield? What friend. 
What righteous man shall bear to see 
The slayer of his mother — me?" 


Tlic Supernatural in the Tragedies of Euripides y\ 

15. The Orestes 

The Orestes was acted in 408. The first part of the play tells 
us that after the murder of Aigisthus and Clytemnestra Orestes 
was haunted by the Furies. In torment thereof he continued six 
days. Then both, Orestes and Electra were condemned to death 
by the Argive people. The later portion of the play contains the 
intrigues for their rescue and the final achievement for their de- 
liverance. 

Orestes desires to pray at the grave of his father: 

Or. 796-97: 

Kal fie Trpos TVfxj3ov ■Kopevcjov iraTpos, 
cos VIP LKtTtvaw fie aaitrai. 

" Even to my father's grave-mound guide me on. 
I would pray him to deliver." 

Orestes, Electra, and Pylades pray to Agamemnon in Hades : 
Or. 1225 fif.: 

O. w Scbfxa vaiu^v vvktos 6p4>i'aia^ Trdrcp, k. t. X. 
H. w Trdrep, Ikov Stjt', el fcXuets e'iaco x^ovos 

reKvciov KoKovvroiv, ol aedev ifv-qaKova' inrep. 
n. o) avyytveia Trarpos ep.ov, Kafjias Xtrds, 

' Ay a nefxvov, eiaa.KovcToi', eKffiocrov Ttuva.. 

O. " Father, who dwellest in dark halls of night, 
Thy son Orestes bids thee come to help 
Those in sore need. For thy sake suffer I 
Wrongfully — by thy brother am betrayed. 
Though I wrought righteousness. I fain would seize 
His wife, and slay: be thou our help therein!" 

E. " Come, father, come, if thou in earth's embrace 
Hearest thy children cry, who die for thee ! " 

P. " My father's kinsman, to my prayers withal, 

Agamemnon, hearken ; save thy children thou ! etc." 

and Pylades adds : 

Or. 1240-43: 

iravcraade, Kal irpos tpyov e^opfiwue^a. 
etirep yap etcrco yfj's aKovri^ovcr' dpai, 
kXuci. ail 5', co ZfD irpoyove Kal Aiktjs a'e^as, 
Sot' evTVxvo'o.i twS' kfxoi re rfiSe re. 

" Cease ye, and let us haste unto the deed ; 
For if prayers, javelin-like, pierce earth, he hears. 


72 Ernest Heinrich Klotsche 

Forefather Zeus, and Justice' majesty, 

To him, to me, to her. grant happy speed ! " 

Electra prays : 

Or. 1299-1300: 

w Alos, 03 Alox a'tvaov Kparos, 

?X»>' iiriKovpov ifwlffL <t)i\oiat iravTuis. 

" O power of Zeus, of Zeus, — eternal power, 
Come, aid my friends in this supremest hour ! " 

Electra pronounces a curse on Helen : 
Or. 130-31 : 

iSeol at tJ.i(Tr)(THav, ois n' aTrwXecras 
Kal Toude ■wacav ??' EXXdSa. 

"... —Still the Helen of old ! 
God's hate be on thee, who hast ruined me. 
My brother, and all Hellas ! " 

Only one instance of oath is found in our play : 

Or. 1516-17: 

0. oixocrov, il Se nil, Krevw ere, /ujj Xkyeiv ey.r)v x<ip"'- 
^. Tr]v ifJLTiv \pvxvv Kardifioa', ffv av evopKoln' kyu). 

O. " Swear— or I will slaj' thee, — that thou speakest not to 
pleasure me. 
Phr. B3' my life I swear — an oath I sure sliould honour sacredly." 

In the prologue Electra asserts that the oradc-god is guilty of 
the most unholy thing, the most abominable deed : 

Or. 28-31 : 

4>ot/3oi' 5' abiKLap ntv ri 5el KaTrjyoptlv; 
ireideL 6' 'OpeffT-qv nrirkp' f) (T<p' kyeii'aro 
KTtivai, irp6% ohx awa.vTa's evKKnav (t>epov. 
<5/xcos 5' &.irkKT€iv' ovk atrudrjaas i?€w. 

" What boots it to lay wrong to Phoebus' cliarge, 
Wlio thrust Orestes on to slay the mother 
Tliat bare him? — few but cry shame on the deed, 
Tliough in obedience to the God he slew." 

Line 30 means literally translated " a deed that does not bring to 
all the idea that this was creditable in a God," i.e., " that brings 
discredit to him with some." 


The Supernatural in the Tragedies of Euripides 73 

That Phoebus was the real author of the deed is admitted by 
Helen : 

Or. 76: 

els "i>oI/3oj' a.va4>tpovaa Tr)v afxaprlav. 
" Since upon Phoebus all thy sin I lay, etc." 

Apollo's oracle is called an unjust one by Electra : 

Or. 162-64: 

ixdiKos ixdiKa tot ap' tXaKef eXaKev, airo- 
(fjovov 6t' (ttI TpLTrodi Qe/dLbos ap' tdiKaffe 
4>6vov 6 Aortas tM^s yuaxepos. 

" Wrongful was he who uttered that wrongful rede 
When Loxias, thronged on the tripod of Themis, decreed 
The death of mj^ mother, a foul, unnatural deed!" 

And Orestes exclaims : 

Or. 275-76: 

tL dfiTa ;ueXXer'; e^aKpi^er' aidepa 
TTTepols' TO. <i>ot/3oi; 5' alTLaade dtcrtf^aTa. 

" Why tarry ye ? Soar to the welkin's height 
On wings ! There rail on Phoebus' oracles ! " 

and he continues : 

Or. 285-87 : 

Xo^iq. di fieiJ.4>oiJ.aL, 
ooTts fj. tirapas tpyov avocnioTaTov. 
Tols p.iv \6yois r]v4>paiv€, rots 5' epyoiCTW ov. 

"... Loxias I blame, 
Who to a deed accursed thrust ine on, 
And cheered me still with words, but not with deeds." 

Orestes, when seized with madness, in his lucid intervals again 
and aszain blames the God for the deed : 


Or. 414 ff. 


0. dXX' iaTLv rjiJilv ai'a4>opa. rfjs ^Uju^opds 

<t'oi/3os, KeXevaas fX7]Tp6s iKvpa^ai <f)6vov. 

M. afj.adt(TTep6s y dv tov koKov Kal ttjs 5tK7js 

0. BovXevofxev 'deals, 6 tl ttot' eicrlv ol -deol. 

^I. k^t' oIk ay.{'V€L Aortas rots aols KaKols', 

0. jueXXtf TO ^elov 8' euTi toiovtov 4>v(rei,. 

O. " Yet can I cast my burden of affliction 


74 Ernest Heinrich Klotsche 

On PIioel)us, who bade spill my mother's blood." 
M. " Sore lack was his of justice and of right! " 
O. " The God's thralls are we — whatsoe'er Gods be." 
M. "And doth not Loxias shield thee in thine ills?" 
O. " He tarrieth long — such is the God's wont still." 

Or. 591-96: 

'AttoWcov OS ne(TOfj.(f)a.\ovs (Spas 
. vaiwv 0poTol<Ti. arofxa vend (Ta<f>ecTTaToi', 
<fi -wtLdontada ttclviV ocr' av Ktlvos Xeyjj, 
TOVTCi} TTLdonevos Triv TtKovaav tKravou. 
tKeivov Tiyelad' avbaiov Kal KTeivere- 
tKeivos i^fiapr', om kyu. 

"... Apollo at earth's navel-throne 
Gives most true revelation unto men, 
Whom we obey in whatsoe'er he saith. 
Obeying him, my mother did I slay. 
Account }'e him unholy : yea, slay him ! 
He sinned, not I." 

After the poet has thoroughly censured the oracle-god for his 
injustice the play concludes with the usual justification of Apollo's 
wisdom. Apollo himself appears and gives his oracles as to how 
afifairs should be managed, vv. 1625-65. Orestes perfectly satis- 
fied addresses Apollo : 

Or. 1666-67: 

CO Ao^ta /jiavTele auiv decnrLafj.aTojv 

ov xpevbonavTLs fja^' dip', dXX' eriiTvnos. 

" Hail, Prophet Loxias, to thine oracles ! 
No lying prophet went thou then, Init true." 

and Or. 1680-81 : 

(caTcb TotovTos' airiv8oiJ.at 8e avn4>opais, 
Mej/tXce, Kal aols, Ao|ia, deairianaaiv. 

" I am as he to my fate reconciled. 
To Menelaus, and thine oracles." 

The prophet Glaucus, from whom Menelaus learned the news 
of his brother's fate, is called the " unerring God " : 

Or. 362 ff.: 

. . . N77pea)s vpo<i>i]TTis VKavKos 6.\fev5ris deos, k. t. X. 

"... from the waves 
The shipman's seer, the unerring God, the son 


The Supernatural in the Tragedies of Euripides 75 

of Nereus, Glaucus, made it known to me : 
' Thy brother, Menclaus, lieth dead, etc' " 

The word Trpo^Tjrrjs, however, does not necessarily imply the power 
of predicting; Trpo^iyrijs is properly an interpreter or speaker for 
another, as Apollo was the prophet of Zeus and Glaucus of 
Nereus. 

Reference to dreams is made in 

Or. 618: 

oveipar ayyeWoixra Taya/jLtfivovos. 
" TeHino- of dreams from Agamemnon sent." 

This verse is generally considered as spurious. Paley thinks that 
the notion was borrowed from dreams of vengeance sent to Cly- 
temnestra by Agamemnon as described in the " Choephori " of 
/^schylus and in Sophocles' Electra 425 ; it is not elsewhere al- 
luded to by Euripides. 

In the extremely fine passage vv. 255 ff., which must have been 
truly terrific when impersonated by a good actor, we have the 
famous vision of Orestes who sees the Furies by his side : 

Or. 255-57: 

TCis ot;uaTW7roi;s Koi dpaKovrudas Kopas. 
avrai yap a Drat ir\r](Tiov OpuiaKOval jjlov. 

" Mother ! — beseech thee, hark not thou on me 
'Yon maidens gory-eyed and snaky-haired ! 
Lo there ! — lo there ! They are nigh, they leap on me ! " 

At this moment Orestes in his delirium makes a violent efifort to 
leap from his couch ; Therefore Electra, his sister, who sits by his 
bed and administers to him with the most tender afifection as- 
suages him saying : 

Or. 258-59: 

ixkv , CO raXatTTcop", arpkixa crols ev Sep.pioi'S' 
opas yap ovdtv uv doKfls <Td<j> etSevat. 

" Stay, hapless one, unshuddering on thy couch : 
Nought of thy vivid vision seest thou." 

In these lines we have a striking example how Euripides manages 


76 Ernest He'mrich Klotsche 

the supernatural in contrast with yEschylus. According to the 
latter the Furies are real deities, living persons of objective ex- 
istence, who even come upon the stage to torture the murderer. 
According to Euripides Orestes in his delirium fancies he sees 
the forms of the Furies pursuing him, while Electra expresses her 
disbelief in the visible presence of them. She admits that a 
fancied illness is as afflicting to the patient, as a real one, but 
insists that the illness is nothing but a vision that haunts the brain 
of a delirious man : 

Or. 311-15 : 

dXXa kXIpov tls evvr)v btjias, 
Kol ^l^7 TO rap^ovv KaK(j>o0ovy cr^ tK benvlwv 
ayav d7ro5exoi') M*''* 5' tirl arpoiTOV \kxov^. 
Kav fir] voajjs yap, dXXd. So^af ets voat'iv 
KCLnaros ^poTolcnv kwoplare ylyvtrai. 

" . . . But lay thee down, 
And heed not terrors overmuch, that scare 
Thee from thy couch, but on thy bed abide. 
For, though thy sickness be but of the brain, 
This is affliction, this despair, to men.'' 

16. The Iphigenia at Aulis 

The " Iphigenia at Aulis " was acted after the death of Euripi- 
des. Its subject forms a prelude to the "Iphigenia in Tauris." 
Calchas the prophet had proclaimed — and he was backed by 
Odysseus and Menelaus — that Artemis claims the sacrifice of 
Iphigenia, eldest daughter of Agamemnon, before the adverse 
winds can fall. Iphigenia, doomed by her father to die at Aulis, 
is miraculously saved by the Goddess and removed to another 
land, the Tauric Chersonese. 

As in the " Hippolytus " so also in the " Iphigenia at Aulis," a 
characteristic passage is contained, where Euripides refers to an 
oath which is invalid. This is the oath sworn to Tyndareus by 
Helen's suitors : 

LA. 390 ff.: 

wfLoaav TOP Twdapetov opKov ol KaK6(t>poves 

(pLXoyafiot p.vr\(TTr)pK . . . 

ovs Xaficjv ffTparev'- eVoiyuot 5' elcrl ficoplq. <i>pev(hv. 


TJic Supernatural in the Tragedies of Euripides 77 

" Those infatuate marriage-craving suitors swore an oath indeed 
Unto Tyndareus ; . . . 
Lead them thou — O these are read)- in tlie folly of their soul ! " 

This oath was invahd because it was extorted on a false pretense : 

I. A. 66-67 : 

tTret 5' kiriffTwdriaav e/x7re5ajs, ytpuiv 

inrriKdev avTovs Tvifdapeus irvKufi <^peft, k. t. X. 

" So when they had pledged them thus, and cunningly 
Old Tyndareus had hy craft outwitted them, etc." 

The oath was taken under the usual solemn forms of swearing 
and an imprecation of harm to him who should fail in his obliga- 
tion was added, {eTvapaaaadat) : 

I. A. 57-65 : 

Kal VLv elcrrj'K^ei' Ta5e, 
opKovs (TwoApai Sejtas t€ avix^akeiv k. t. X. 

"... and this thing came into his mind, 
That each to each the suitors should make oath, 
And clasp right hands, and with burnt sacrifice 
Should pour drink-offerings, and swear to this : — 
Whose wife soever Tyndareus' child should be, 
Him to defend: if any from her home 
Stole her and fled, and thrust her lord aside, 
To march against him, and to raze his town, 
Hellene or alien, with their mailed array." 

The suitors had taken the oath because each hoped to be the hus- 
band of Helen ; and since they were bound by this oath they had 
to take the consequences of their folly and join the Trojan expe- 
dition, and so fulfil their oath. In taking such an oath they are 
called KaK6(l)poves "infatuate," vv. 390-91. But Euripides adds 
that while men may be in the dark about the validity or invalidity 
of oaths the Godhead well knows how to distinguish those which 
are valid from those which are not : 

LA. 395-^6: 

oil yap iavuerov to ^eiov, dXX' ex*' ffvvikvai 
roxjs KaKUs Trayevras opKovs Kal KaTrjvayKaankvovs. 

"God is not an undiscerning judge; his eyes are keen to try 
Oaths exacted by constraint, and troth-plight held unrighteously." 


78 Ernest He in rich Klofsche 

Menelaus under a solemn oath by his and Agamemnon's an- 
cestors declares that he no longer desires to possess a bad wife at 
the cost of a good brother's happiness : 

I. A. 473 ff. : 

]Ie\o7ra KdTotxvvyJ , oy Trarrip rovfxov irarpos 
Toil aov t' tKXridri, tov TtKovra 7' 'Axpea, 
K. T. X. 

" I swear by Pelops, of my sire and thine 
Named father, and bjr Atreus our own sire, 
That from mine heart's core I will speak to thee. 
To serve no end, l)ut all mine inmost thought, etc." 

Likewise Achilles, when swearing, invokes his ancestor : 

I. A. 948-50 : 

/[id TOV dl vypibi> Kvnaruv red panfikvov 
N77pea, <t>vTovpy6v Bert5os v m' tTtiVaro, 
ovx atperaL ffTJs i^vyarpos \\.y ap.eij.vijii> ava^. 

" No, by the foster-son of Ocean's waves, 
Nereus, the sire of Thetis who bare me, 
King Agamemnon shall not touch thy child." 

The poet's dislike for seers also finds expression in our play : 
I. A. 520-21 : 

TO navTLKov Trdi' airkpp.a (jiLXoTtpov KaKov. 
Kovdiv 7' apearov ov5t xP'^'^'-l^ov wapop. 

Agam. " The whole seer-tribe is an ambitious curse." 
Menel. " Abominable and useless, — zvhile alive." 

Cf. also El. 400; Hel. 755 ; I. T. 574. 
Achilles bitterly asks : 

LA. 956: 

Tts 8e pdvTis i(TT' dn7p; 
" What is a seer? " 

and answers his own question : 

LA. 957-58: 

5s oKiy a\r]dfj, woWa 8i \pev8fi \iyu 
Tvx<j^f orav bi pij rvxil^ dioixeraL. 

" A man who speaks few truths, but many lies. 
When his shafts hit, who is ruined if he miss." 

(I.e., he loses all credit when he fails.) 


TJic Supernatural in the Tragedies of Euripides 79 

17. The Bacch^ 

The " Bacchffi " was composed or completed during the resi- 
dence of Euripides with Archelaus in Macedonia and in all prob- 
ability was the work of his latest years. It brings before us the 
conflict between divine power claiming its due recognition (Dion- 
ysus), and human arrogance denying that claim (Pentheus). 
The play details the miserable end of Pentheus, who stands alone 
in obstinate resistance to the worship of Dionysus. A devout 
and religious tone is predominant throughout this play. The 
splendid choral odes of the " Bacchanals," their passionate cries 
and wild ecstatic prayers express the one theme of pious devotion 
in varying forms following the development of the action. 

The chorus in an ecstatic prayer call the Goddess of Sanctity 
to listen to the impious language of Pentheus : 

Bacch. 370 ff. : 

'Offta TTOTva ^eccv, 

'Offta 5' a Kara yav 

Xpvakav ■KTipvya. <^€pets, k. t. X. 

" O Sanctity, thou who dost bear dominion 

Over Gods, yet low as this earthly ground, 
Unto usward, stoopest thy golden pinion, — 

Hear'st thou the words of the king, and the sound 
Of his blast of defiance, of Pentheus assailing 
The Clamour-king? — hear'st thou this blasphemous railing 
On Semele's son, who is foremost found 
Of the Blest in the festival beauty-crowned? etc." 

In the spirit of Bacchic frenzy the chorus invoke the God : 

Bacch. 414-15 : 

CKelcr (iye ^te, Bpo^iie BpojUte, k. t. X. 
"... Thitherward lead me, O Clamour-king ! 
O Revel-god, guide where the Graces abide 
And Desire, — where danceth, of no man denied, 
The Bacchanal ring." 

The chorus call upon the God to come and check the insolence of 
the king : 

Bacch. 550 flf. : 

i<7op5.s xdS , w Atos Tral 
ALovvffe, (joi's Trpo4>r]Tas k. t. X. 


8o Ernest Hcinrich Klotsche 

"... Son of Zeus, are his deeds of thine eye unbeholden, 
Dionysus? — thy prophets with tyrannj^ wrestling in struggle and 

strain? 
Sweep down the slope of Olympus, uptossing thy thyrsus golden : 
Come to us. King, and the murderer's insolent fury refrain, etc." 

Having called upon the hounds of Madness to arouse the 
Maenads against Pentheus, the godless intruder into their sacred 
rites, the chorus invoke Justice and the presence of the God 
himself : 

Baccli. 1012-23: 

iroj 5iKa <f>ai'ep6s, troi ^i07j06pos k. t. X. 

W, W BdKX«) K- T- ^• 

"Justice, draw nigli us, draw nigh, with the sword of avenging 

appear : 
Slay the unrighteous, the seed of Echion. the earth-born, and 

shear 
Clean through his throat; for he feareth not God, neither law 

doth he fear." 

" O Dionysus, reveal thee ! — appear as a bull to behold. 
Or be thou seen as dragon, a monster of heads manifold, 
Or as a lion with splendours of flame round the limbs of him 

rolled. 
Come to us, Bacchus, and smiling in mocker\- compass him 

around 
Now with the toils of destruction, and so shall the hunter be 

bound, 
Trapped mid the throng of the ^Isenads, the quarry- his questing 

hath found." 

Since the " Bacchse " apparently breathe a more religious spirit 
than most of the earlier dramas of Euripides, scholars have often 
maintained that the play is a sort of recantation on the part of the 
poet, "a reactionary manifesto in favour of orthodoxy." In the 
judgment of G. Murray this is a "view which hardly merits refu- 
tation." Even in the " Bacchas," towards the close of the play in 
the colloquy between Agave and Dionysus, Euripides does not 
shrink from exposing the imperfections of the legend and repre- 
senting the Gods in an obnoxious light : 


The Supernatural in the Tragedies of Euripides 8i 

Bacch. 1344-49: 

A. Aiovvffe, XicffoyuecriJd <r , ridiKriKanev. 

A. 6x1/ knadtd- rjnas, ore 5 exPV^, "i-"^ vSere. 

A. kyvuKafxev ravr • dXX kire^kpx^i- Xiaf. 

A. Kal yap irpos vp-uv {fto^ yeyus v0pi.'^6pr]v. 

A. opyas ■wpkirit ^eovs ovx oixoiovadac ^porols. 

A. TraXat raSe Zeus oii/xos hirivevaev irarrjp. 

A. " Dionysus, we beseech thee ! — we have sinned." 

D. " Too late ye know me, who knew not in your hour." 

A. " We know it — but thy vengeance passeth bounds." 

D. " I am a God : ye did despite to me." 

A. " It fits not that in wrath Gods be as men." 

D. " Long since mj- father Zeus ordained this so." 

Dionysus possesses prophetic knowledge and predicts future 
events. No doubt, some verses of Dionysus' speech have been lost 
at the end of the play. The portion preserved begins with his 
prophecy of the weird transformation of Cadmus: 

Bacch. 1330 ff. : 

bpaKccv yevrjcrei /uera/SaXcov, k. t. X. 
XPV^'fJ-os us Xe7et Atos, k. t. X. 

" Thou to a serpent shalt be changed ; thy wife, etc. 
. . . Zeus' oracle saith, etc." 

Teiresias, the prophet of Apollo, describes Dionysus as a God 
possessed of oracular power and prophetic madness : 

Bacch. 298-99: 

IxavTLs S' 6 halpxiiv 65e' to yap ^aKxeixripov 
Kal TO fiavLuSes pavTLKriv ttoWtji' ex*'- 

" A prophet is this God : the Bacchic frenzy 
And ecstacy are full-fraught with prophecy." 

cf . also Hec. 1267 : 

6 Opri^l pavTLs elire Aiovvffos Ta8r. 

Dramatically appropriate in the lips of the aged seer Teiresias 
is the conservative tone in which he protests against rationalizing 
and speculating about the Gods, as if our reason were capable of 
dealing with the question, vv. 200 ff. 

" 'Tis not for us to reason touching Gods. 
Traditions of our fathers, old as time, 


82 Ernest Heinrich Klotsche 

We hold : no reasoning shall cast them down, — 
No, though of subtlest wit our wisdom spring, etc." 

We cannot, however, unreservedly accept the seer as the spokes- 
man of the opinion of the poet, who, as appears from passages in 
other plays, had no great lovi^; for prophets and soothsayers ; and 
even a play of such a religious character as the " Bacchae " con- 
tains a strong invective against the diviners : The taunts of venal- 
ity which Euripides in vv. 255 ff. allows to be flung at Teiresias 
by Pentheus, — taunts which remain unanswered by the seer, may 
well make us hesitate in accepting the prophet as the exponent of 
the poet's own opinion in vv. 200 ff. Pentheus severely attacks 
Teiresias : 

Bacch. 255-57: 

ai) ravT^ 'iTreiaas, Teipecta- t6v8' av ^k\et,s 
rov BaL/JLOv' avOpiciroiaLV ticr^tpcoi/ v'tov 
OKOirelv irrepuTovs Kaixiriipcav y-iadovs <^kpeiv. 

" Thou didst, Teiresias, draw him to this : 
'Tis thou wouldst foist this new God upon men 
For augurj^ and divination's wage ! " 

The service of a new God was pretty sure to bring with it some 
new profits from the credulous, especially as Dionysus was an 
oracular God. The function of the soothsayer seems to have been 
held in small repute among the contemporaries of Euripides, and 
passages like these (see also Hipp. 1059; Ion 374-8; Hel. 744-57; 
El. 400; Phoen. 772; I. A. 520; and Frgm. 793) reflect the feeling 
of the day. Such censure of false prophets, so common in Euripi- 
des, is doubtless due to the conduct of the mendicant soothsayers 
and jugglers of the time. 
For formula of oath see: 

Bacch. 534-35 : 

in val TOLV fioTpvcodrj 
A1.0PVCTOV X'^-P'-^ owas. 

"... I swear by the full-clustered 
Grace of the vine Dionj-sian." 

The Greeks usually called a divinity to witness that was connected 
with the subject of discourse. 


The Supernatural in the Tragedies of Euripides 83 

18. The Cyclops 

The " Cyclops " is the only extant example of a satyric drama. 
Although the play brings us into contact with customs and modes 
of religious worship of a period long before Euripides, it fur- 
nishes very little material for our search of the supernatural. 

Odysseus prays to Athena and Zeus : 

Cycl. 3SO-55 : 

ci) IlaXXds, o! bkaiTOLva L^^ioyevts dea, k. r. X. 
ZtD i,kvL opa ra5'' k. t. X. 

" O Pallas, Child of Zeus, O Heavenly Queen, 
Help, help me now, for never have I been, 
Mid all Troy's travail, in such strait as this ! 
Oh, this is peril's bottomless abyss ! 
O Dweller in the starry Halls of Light, 
Zeus, thou Guest-champion, look upon my plight ! 
If thou regard not, vainly we confess 
Thy godhead, Zeus, who art mere nothingness ! " 

For the same thought see : 

Cycl. 375-7(^- 

<h 7.ev, tL Xe^co, deiv' idihv avrpo^v ecco 

Kov iricrTO., fxMokS etKor' ov5' tpyoLs ^porchv; 

" O God, that cave ! — that mine eyes should behold 
Horrors incredible, etc." 

Odysseus also appeals to Hephsestus, the presiding God of Etna 
to help him in getting rid of the Cyclops who is a pest to the 
island : 

Cycl. 599-607: 

H^atcrr' iiva^ AlTvale, yeirovos KaKOv 
Xa/jLTTpoy Tvvpoicras op.ix airaXXax^^' aira^, 
K. T. X. 

" O Fire-god, king of Etna, burn away 
The eye of thy vile neighbour, and for aye 
Rid thee of him ! O child of black Night, Sleep, 
On this god-hated brute in full power leap ! 
Bring not Odysseus and his crew to naught. 
After these glorious toils in Ilium wrought, 
Through one who gives to God nor man a thought ! 


84 Ernest Heinrich Klotsche 

Else must we think that Chance bears rule in heaven, 
That lordship over Gods to her is given." 

The drunken Silenus pronounces curses on Odysseus and his 
comrades : 

Cycl. 261 : 

KaKibi yap i^oXoio. 
"... devil take you ! " 

Cycl.268-69 : 

fj KaKUS OVTOl KaKoi 

oi TralSes dTroXotiro. 

"... Else-^may they go to hell 
These bad boys ! " 

Silenus swears " by all the gods and little fishes " that he has not 
sold the lambs of Cyclops : 

Cycl. 262 ff . : 

/id TOP HoCTflScb TOV TtKOVTa O , d) KuK'Xwi/', 

/id TOV ixeyav TplTcova nal tov Nrjpka, 
/id Trjv KaKuipCo rds t€ NTjpecos Kopas, 
/id t?' lepd /cv/iar' ix'^^''^'' ''"^ ""^'^ y^fos, 
airw/xocT , K. t. X. 

" By the Sea-god your father, Sir, I vow, 
By mighty Triton, Nereus, Lord of Waters, 
Calj'pso, and all Nereus' pretty daughters, 
By ever}' holy wave that swings and swishes — 
In short, by all the gods and little fishes 
I swear — . . . etc." 

19. The Fr.\gments 

In the Fragments of Euripides the following prayers and in- 
vocations are contained : 

fr. 123: 

o) deoL, tIv^ eis yrjv jSap^apixiv a4>iyfxeda k. t. X. 
" O Gods, what barbarous land have wc reached ! etc." 

Fr. 132: 

(TV 5' w Tvpavve deuv re Kavdpwiroiu Kpcos, k. t. X. 

" Eros, thou mistress of the Gods and men, etc." 


The Supernatural in t!ie Tragedies of Euripides 85 

fr. 177: 

<L Tfal AiuvTjs, cos e<^i;s fityas t?e6s, 
Ai6vv<7e, dvrjTols t' ou5a^tws vTroararo's. 

" O Dionysus, Dione's son, how great a God hast thou become, 
in no wise inferior to mortals ! " 

f r. 705 contains an invocation addressed to Apollo : 

CO <I>oIjS' AttoWov Avkls, tL Tore yu' tpyaaei; 

fr. 867 one addressed to xA.hprodite : 

CO KiiTrpts, cos fjdila Kal ,uoxdrip6s il. 

The following beautiful fragment contains a praise of the 
world-pervading reason or intelligence : 


fr. 596: 


ere TOf avTo<pvrj tov tv aWepiw 
pviJ-^u TravTOiv ^vaiv ijj.irXk^avd^ , 
Of irkpi. ixev (pais, irept 5' 6p4>vaia 
vii^ aioXoxpcos, iiKpiTos t' darpcov 
oxXos ej'SeXexcos ap-cpixopevfL. 

" Thee, self-begotten, who, in ether rolled 
. Ceaselessly round, by mystic links dost blend 
The nature of all things, whom veils enfold 
Of light, of dark night flecked with gleams of gold. 
Of star-hosts dancing round thee without end." 

Cf . also fr. 935 : 

" Seest thou the boundless ether there on high, 
That folds the earth around with dewy arms? 
This deem thou Zeus, this reckon one with God." 

and fr. 869: 

dXX' aldr]p TiKret, ae, Kopa, 
Zeiij OS api^pwtrois ouond^erai. 

" Maiden, 'twas Ether gave thee birth, 
Who is named Zeus by sons of earth." 

(See also pages 80 ff. on Troad. 884-88.) 
In another fragment we read : 

fr. 938: 

Kal Tala nrjrep- Eariav 8e a ol (TO<pol 
^poTwv KoKovaiv i}p.kvriv €v al^kpi.. 


86 Ernest Heinrich Klotsche 

" O mother Earth, the wise of mortals call thee Hestia whose 
seat is in the sky." 

The vague belief of the poet finds expression in the following 
prayer : 

f r. 904 : 

aol Tu> irdvTOiv fiedeovTL x^V^ 

ireXavSp re (fykpu, Zeus elr' ' Ai5r]s 

ovofxa^ofj-fvoi ffTipyeis' ffii 5e fioi 

d^vaioiV aiTvpov irayKapireiai 

Se^ai w'Krjprj ■wpoxvL^eTaai'. ^ 

(711 yap ev re ^eols rois ovpapiSais 

(TKrJTTTpoi' TO Aios ixeTaxtipl^oiv 

X&ovUov j9' At5g p-erkxtt-s dpx^s- 

■rrkp.\pov 5' « 0cos i/'uxas kveputv 

Tols 0ov\op.kvoL^ a!?Xoiis Trpopadtiv k. t. X. 

" To thee, ruler of all things, whether thou choosest to be named Zeus 
or Hades, I bring libation and offerings, etc. . . . thou, who art wielding 
the sceptre among the Gods in heaven and rulest among the Gods in Hades 
send souls of those beneath the earth up to light to those who are eager 
to know the origin of troubles and the source of evils, etc." 

Perhaps line 9 should be read : 

irkn^ov p.hv <j>ws ^vxo-'-'S 6.vipcov. 
" Send light to the souls of men ! " 

The following two examples are taken from the fragmenta 
dubia et spuria of Euripides : 
fr. 1 104 ascribes to Zeus omniscience and omnipresence: 

3} Zev iravdwra Kai KaToitra Tvavraxov. 

fr. 1094 contains a prayer addressed to Athena, — " almost the only 
Goddess," as J. Adam says, " from whom the poet refrains his 
sacrilegious hand " : 

o) Tov fieyicrTov Ztjj'os a\Ktpop re/cos 
IlaXXas, ri dpufxev k. t. X. 

"O Pallas, thou mighty Child of great Zeus, what shall we do?" 

In his "Danae" the poet makes one of his characters declaim the 
following prayer to gold : 


The Supernatural in the Tragedies of Euripides 87 

fr. 326: 

d) xP^'^^t Se^tcoyua KaXXterrof (iporols, 

d)s oiire ixrjT-qp 7i5ova^ TOidad ex«', 

oil iralSes av^puiroccnv, ov (piXos iraTrip, 

oias (TV xoi- fft buixacTLv KtKTijp.ei'OL. 

el 5' 17 T\.virpts toiovtov 6<^(9aXjuoIs opa, 

ov t?ai}/i' epwTtts ixvpiovs avTTjv ex«J'. 

" O Gold, most beautiful delight of mortals ! Neither their mother, nor 
their children, nor their father enjoy such pleasures as thou and those who 
possess thee. If Cypris has such (splendor) in her eyes, no wonder that 
she has a thousand lovers ! " 

This eulogy of gold was undoubtedly meant by the poet to be 
ironical. But the Athenian public was scandalized by such an 
utterance which seemed opposed to the traditional belief, and, as 
Seneca tells us, rose at these words and would have driven the 
actor and the play from the stage had Euripides not come out 
and announced that the actor was going to be punished for the 
godless utterance he had made. Seneca Epist. 115: . . . totus 
populus ad eiciendum et actorem et carmen consurrexit uno im- 
petu, donee Euripides in medium ipse prosiluit petens ut expec- 
tarent viderentque quem admirator auri exitum faceret. 

Although Euripides stood aloof from public life he missed no 
opportunity to declare his love for liberty and his hatred of abso- 
lute power. Upon tyranny and all those who are in sympathy 
with it he pronounces a curse : 

fr. 277: 

KaKws 5' oXoivTO iravTis o'i Tvppavfidi. 
Xaipovcriv oXiyr) t' ev iroXet p.ovapxla. 

" Cursed be all those who rejoice to see the city in the hands of a 
single man or under the yoke of a few men ! " 

Prayer to the dead is in vain : 

fr. 336: 

ooKtis TOP Aidrjv cruv tl <f>poi'Ti'^eLV "yboiv 
KoX TraZd' avr\aeiv t6i> <t6v, ei deXois arkveLv; 
■Kavaar k. t. X. 

" Do you believe that Hades heeds thy lamentations, 
. . . and sends up thy sons? Be silent! etc." 

For similar thought see fr. 454, where we read about Hercules: 


88 Ernest Heinrich Klotsche 

" For if he dwelleth in the underworld 
Midst those that are no more, he is strengthless all." 

and f r. 536 : 

"... All who have died 
Are shadows and dust: nothingness fades to nothingness." 

These passages are striking examples of the contradictions which 
are so common in Euripides. For the poet's opposite view on the 
subject cf. El. 677 ff.; Hec. 534-41 ; Troad. 1302, 1307. 
Reference to oath is made : 

fr. 491 : 

onvvfiL 5' lepov aWtp', oiK-qaw Slos. 
" I swear by holj^ Ether, the dwelling of Zeus." 

and fr. 1030: 

ffiryyvconopas tol tovs i^eovs elfai Sojcels, 
oTav Tis opKU ^avarov kK<^vytiv dtKf}; 

" Dost thou believe the Gods are disposed to pardon, if someone 
wishes to escape death by oath? " 

Zeus is called the most truthful fxavris among the Gods, 
fr. 875: 

Zers tv deolai, yudirts a\pev5icrraTos 
Kal reXoy airos ex^i-- 

Melanippe is described as one who proclaimed unerring proph- 
ecies : 

f r. 485 : 

^ irpoira fitv to. ^ela wpovfiaPTivaaro 
XP7)crp.diai. (Ta4>katv aarkpoiv tjr' diroXais 

The following fragments are in keeping with the poet's usual con- 
tempt for soothsayers : 

fr. 963: 

fiavTis 5 apiCTOs oaris et^dfei KaXcos. 
" The best seer is he who guesses well." 

and fr. 793: 

tL SrJTa (Jd/cots fxavTiKols tuTifxeuo'. 
(Ta(t>o)s bi6p.vv(r&^ tibkpo.L rd Sai/uovwi'.', 


The Supernatural in the Tragedies of Euripides 89 

ov rihvhe x^'-P'^vaKTt'i avdponroL Xoycjp- 
ocrrts yap avxcl jJecof kirlaTaadaL v'tpi., 
ovbkv TL ixaWov oldfv fj ntldeiv \kyijiv. 

" Why do you, who hold prophetic seats, declare that you have perfect 
knowledge of things divine? There are no diviners! For he who pre- 
tends to know the will of Heaven only knows how to deceive by his talk." 

Summary Result of the Preceding Discussion 

Even after having carefully examined all the available material 
on the subject the difficulty still remains to reach tenable conclu- 
sions in regard to the poet's view of the supernatural. For all 
his lucidity of language, Euripides is not lucid about his ideas 
especially in connection with the supernatural. No wonder that 
few subjects connected with Euripides have attracted the atten- 
tion of scholars more than his religious views, and that the schol- 
ars do not agree among themselves in answering the question : 
What position does the poet take up with reference to the super- 
natural? "As a thinker," says Murray, "he is even to this day 
treated almost as a personal enemy by scholars of orthodox and 
conformist minds ; defended, idealized, and sometimes transformed 
beyond recognition by various champions of rebellion and the 
free intellect." Schlegel advises: "We may distinguish in him a 
two-fold character, thc'poet, whose productions were consecrated 
to a religious solemnity, who stood under the protection of re- 
ligion, and who therefore, on his part, was bound to honor it, and 
tJie sophist with his philosophical dicta, who endeavoured to in- 
sinuate his sceptical opinions and doubts into the fabulous mar- 
vels of religion from which he derived the subjects of his plays." 
Schlegel's view is right, if we grant his premises, viz., that the 
poet's insinuating of sceptical opinions and doubts is of set pur- 
pose; and even then the question is left to be answered: Where 
speaks the poet, and where the sophist? — Donaldson, in his " The- 
atre of the Greeks " briefly describes Euripides as " altogether 
devoid of religious feelings," while Haigh characterizes the poet's 
mind " as essentially of a religious and meditative cast.": — Ac- 
cording to the theory lately propounded by Dr. Verrall our poet 
is the " sceptic " and " rationalist " whose plays are a covert but 
intended attack on the popular religion, bearing one meaning to 


90 Ernest Hcinnch Klotsclic 

the multitude and another to the " advanced thinkers " of the 
day. " The orthodoxy is pretended fiction, a mere theatrical trick, 
required in the first instance, and to some extent throughout, by 
the peculiar conditions of the tragic stage at Athens, but main- 
tained in part out of a natural love for duplicity, ambiguity, irony, 
and the play of meaning, which was characteristic of the people 
and the time" (Euripides the Rationalist, pp. 231-232). But if 
Euripides really was concealing a rationalistic doctrine under the 
garb of his drama, we can hardly imagine how this would have 
escaped the scrutiny of the most keen-eyed and merciless of 
critics, Aristophanes. Nor can we imdcrstand that for more than 
two thousand years none of all the painstaking students has been 
able to penetrate the disguise, which Dr. Verrall has discovered 
in the works of Euripides. There can be no doubt that the opin- 
ion of modern scholars has been influenced by Aristophanes who 
presents Euripides as a proselyting atheist. Yet the comic poet 
must not be mistaken for a historian, and his manifest exag- 
gerations should have put professional critics on their guard, all 
the more as he swung his comic lash over Euripides with special 
vigor because of personal feeling. 

To do Euripides justice we must first of all realize that he was 
the child of a particular age. He lived in a time of general dis- 
solution when everything in the moral, religious, and social life 
was fluctuating. It was the age of the sophists with their agnos- 
ticism on the one hand and their virtual atheism on the other. 
Protagoras had been expelled from Athens for his free-thinking. 
To quote his own words : " About the Gods I am unable to affirm 
either that they exist or that they do not exist, nor what they are 
like." Prodicus declared that the so-called Gods were only per- 
sonifications of those objects which experience had found benefi- 
cial to the life of man : Demeter was only the apotheosis of bread, 
as Dionysus of wine, Poseidon of water, Hephaestus of fire, and 
so forth. With these men Euripides was contemporary, and he 
undoubtedly acquainted himself with their thoughts on nature, 
man, and God. Then the Peloponnesian War (431-404 B.C.) 
in its bearings on religious ideas was also of vital importance. In 
time of distress and misfortune, men often begin to reconsider 


The Supernatural in the Tragedies of Euripides 91 

the foundations of their behefs. One fate appeared for the 
righteous and the wicked, for those that sacrificed and for those 
that sacrificed not. This bitter experience had shaken the already 
weakened joints of the ancestral religious structure, and finally 
the old beliefs themselves went by the board. 

Euripides is above all others the spokesman of his time, the 
poet in wdiom the spirit of revolt against the older conceptions of 
the supernatural appears. How far the dissolution of the tra- 
ditional beliefs had proceeded in his time is difficult to say. It is, 
however, probable that his attacks on the religion of the masses 
were preceded by other attacks. At any rate, people's minds in 
Euripides' days were prepared to hear, even in the theatre, doubt 
cast on what concerned the Gods ; and when Euripides approached 
religious tradition with scepticism and liberal frankness he was 
supported by the spirit of the time in which he lived. 

Here the question arises: H Euripides was so at variance with 
the traditional beliefs, why then did he make such frequent use of 
the supernatural in his tragedies ? It is possible, though not very 
probable, that one of his reasons was to counteract the popular 
prejudice against his supposed atheism. The main reason, how- 
ever, was that he could not put aside the historic atmosphere of 
the Attic drama. Tradition and dramatic propriety compelled 
him to take his themes from the myths and heroic legends, how- 
ever abhorrent many of these must have been to him. No one in 
Euripides' days could have broken free from these traditions ; in 
attempting to do so he must have wrecked either his fame or his 
art. And above all we must not forget that Euripides was a 
dramatic poet and not a theological teacher. His task was rather 
to interest than to instruct, not to inculcate certain sceptical views 
and theological criticism, but to give to the people the pleasure 
which a good tragedy can aiTord. 

We must, moreover, always bear in mind that it will not do to 
take, without discriniination, all the views which his characters 
maintain for the reflective opinion of the dramatic poet. Fre- 
quently these views are contradictory and necessarily vary ac- 
cording to the dramatis personae and to the dramatic situation. 

But after all due allowances have been made it cannot be 


92 Ernest Hcinrich Klotschc 

denied that Euripides through his characters and choruses, not 
only now and then, but throughout his tragedies, expresses views 
on the supernatural with evident satisfaction, and in a language 
that leaves no doubt that these views are dear to him and reflect 
his own thought. 

Euripides' characters often appeal to the Gods in prayer, and 
some of their prayers are of the finest type expressing the pro- 
found sentiments of a devout and godly soul. But side by side 
with this kind of prayers are others of an entirely opposite char- 
acter — and these are by no means the exception but the rule. Our 
poet often employs prayers which are nothing but expressions of 
disbelief in the use and value of prayer. Others are in reality no 
prayers at all, but mere expostulations, invectives, maledictions, 
and blasphemies hurled against the Gods. That this is the pre- 
vailing attitude of the poet towards the Gods of Greek mythology 
has sufficiently been illustrated by various examples in the pre- 
ceding discussion. But how do we account for this extent of the 
poet's iconoclasm ? 

It has been maintained that Euripides was an atheist, hence 
his violent attack against the traditional beliefs which he consid- 
ered nothing but superstitions and follies. I venture to say that 
he was not in any sense an atheist. The often quoted fragment 
from the " Bellerophontes " : 

fr. 288: 

(^Tjaif Tts tivai 5rjr if ovpaui^ deovs; 
OVK eiffiv, ovK eiaiv. 

"Doth any saj- that there are Gods in heaven? 
Xay there are none ! " 

does not prove the atheism of Euripides any more than Prome- 
theus' maledictions against Zeus prove the impiety of ^^schylus. 
Bellerophontes like Prometheus is godless, and for his godless- 
ness is blasted by the thunderbolt. We must also take into ac- 
count that a radical denial of the Gods would have been impossible 
in an Athenian theatre in the days of Euripides. 

In denying the Gods of Greek mythology our poet does not deny 
the existence of divine powers altogether ; but as to what these 


The Snpcrnalural in the Tragedies of Euripides 93 

divine powers really are he does not make any positive sugges- 
tions. He speaks of God and of the Gods promiscuously. The 
question whether polytheism or monotheism never roused his in- 
terest. At times his conception of the divine being is that of a 
pantheist, at times that of an agnostic. But "whoever Zeus may be," 
offTLs 6 Zeus, H. F. 1263; fr. 483; whether he be Ether, or Neces- 
sity, or Mind, or Justice, — "whatever Gods be," Or. 418: 6 n 
TOT elalv ol deoi — -there is but one thing which Euripides de- 
mands as an essential quality in a divinity, namely, that it must 
be morally blameless and absolutely just. The common people 
endowed the Gods with all the human passions. This unreason- 
ableness and immorality of popular beliefs was exceedingly re- 
pugnant to Euripides. He makes Iphigenia say, I. T. 385 ff. : 

" It cannot be that Zeus' bride Leto bare 
Such folly. Nay, I hold unworthy credence 
The banquet given of Tantalus to the Gods, — 
As though the Gods could savour a child's flesh ! 
Even so, this folk, themselves man-murderers. 
Charge on their Goddess their own sin, I ween ; 
For I believe that none of Gods is vile! " 

and one of the poet's characters in the " Bellerophontes " de- 
clares : 

f r. 294, 7 : 

el tjeoi Ti dpojcrii' alaxpov, ovu tlali/ Otol. 
"If the Gods do aught base, tlien they are not Gods." 

This latter declaration is according to the German scholar, Nestle, 
the basic principle of Euripides' whole attack upon the Gods of 
Greek mythology. Over against this verse of Euripides Nestle 
sets the following verse of Sophocles : 

fr. 226, 4: 

oXcTXPOV niv ovSev 03V i<j>ri'Y0vvT ai deo'i, 
" Nothing to which the Gods lead men is base.'' 

and points out what both poets have in common with each other 
and in what they differ from one another. Common to both is 

the assumption " that God and sin arc nmtually exclusive terms " ; 


94 Ernest Ilciiirich Klotschc 

but they differ in the conclusion which they draw from this as- 
sumption. Sophocles infers: Everything the Gods do is right, no 
matter how it may seem to us ("even if they bid thee travel be- 
yond the right" (e^oj SiKrjs). luiripides draws the opposite con- 
clusion: The sinful Gods of mythology are no Gods at all. 

Furthermore, Euripides, as contrasted with Sophocles, could 
not reconcile the baffling spectacle of injustice triumphing over 
justice with a belief in the existence of just beings such as he 
held the Gods must be. The cruel inequality of the distribution 
of blessings and evils among men leads him sometimes to doubt 
the providential government of the world in any sense of the 
term. 

These conceptions that the popular Gods are devoid of justice, 
and that there is no divine justice in the government of the world, 
fully explain the poet's attitude to represent these Gods, when- 
ever opportunity offers, in an unfavorable, obnoxious, and shame- 
ful light, thus holding forth what a miserable set of deities men 
had formed for themselves out of their own imagination. 

Euripides makes frequent use of prayers addressed to the dead. 
Such prayers presuppose at least the existence and presence of 
the spirit of the dead. In this respect Euripides seems, at first 
thought, to share the views of the two older dramatists who be- 
lieved in immortality and a future life; but in reality his many 
reflections on the subject are of such a conflicting and confusing 
character that they do not give us any consistent views on the 
possibility of a future life. Even the prayer of ^Nlegara ad- 
dressed to Hercules in Hades begins with a sceptical remark : 

" Deat" love,- — if anj- in Hades of the dead 
Can hear, — I crj' tliis to thee, Hercules ! " 

H. F. 490 ft".; see also page 130, frgg. 336, 454, 536. 
E^r flections on life beyond the grave reveal the same 

ir<-or-" ■. views which we are everywhere to witness in cou- 
nt, .. ith his handling of the supernatural element. 

Curses as well as prayers presuppose the existence of some 
supernatural power to execute for man his heart's expressed de- 
sire. All three tragic poets furnish examples where destiny is 


The Supernatural in the Tragedies of Euripides 95 

aroused and set in motion l)y human will in the curse. The be- 
liefs in the intervention of protecting and punishing supernatural 
powers, inherited curses, and evil destinies play an important part 
in the tragedies of /Eschylus, but according to him it is not a 
blind fate with which man has to deal ; he is only blinded and 
hastened to destruction when he has voluntarily made an evil 
choice: 

Pers. 742: 

aXX' orav crirevS'O ris avros, xw ^^os awairT€Tai. 
" When the fool to folh^ hasteth, God shall speed him to his fall." 

According to Sophocles destiny as the mere expression of the will 
of the Godhead is just. CEdipus, for example, v;hen informed of 
the evil in store acts " neither seeing nor inquiring " {oM^ bpdv 
oM' laTopoiv) in killing his father and marrying his mother. It is 
the shortsightedness of man rather than the deception of God 
which brings him to ruin. Most of the curses in the tragedies of 
Euripides are imprecations common in the every day life of the 
Greeks, and they throw but little light on our question regarding 
the supernatural. But where he refers to hereditary or family 
curses, as in the " Hippolytus " and the " Phoenissse," he makes 
them a part of inevitable fate. In conformity with his conception 
of the providential government of the world he identifies them 
with unknown forces that, past human control, bring man to ruin. 
That Euripides did not intend to cast doubt on the sacred char- 
acter of oaths has already been stated ; for the two examples in 
question see I. A. 394 ff., and Hipp. 612. In reference to the 
general outcry against the latter passage Mahafify with indigna- 
tion expresses his doubt " whether any criticism, ancient or mod- 
ern, contains among its myriad injustices, whether of negligence, 
ignorance, or deliberate malice, a more flagrantly absurd accusa- 
tion." (Classical Greek Literature, Vol. I, page 335.) Euripides 
throughout his plays shows a deep regard for the sanctity of 
oath, but as a profound and advanced thinker he rejects the 
narrow and unintelligent formalism of the herd. It is not the 
mere formula of oath which when once pronounced is absolutely 
binding, even though one be not able to keep one's word. In the 


96 Ernest Ilcinrich Klotschc 

opinion of Euripides only that oath is vaHd and binding that has 
been made deliberately and without constraint. 

In Greek life oracles and prophecies played a considerable part. 
Behef in divination was particularly strong in the hours of politi- 
cal crisis and national ])eril. as e.g., during the Peloponnesian 
War where people were so uncertain about the future the Gods 
held in store for them. The Greek writers reflect the influence 
of divination in various ways. How important a figure it cut in 
Greek thought and life is shown especially by the prominence 
which ^schylus assigns to divination in Prometheus 484 fif. 

Oracles and Prophecies are also of frequent occurrence in the 
tragedies of Euripides and yet the poet has no regard for the art 
of diviuation. Only one of his characters speaks favorably of 
soothsaying — Theseus in the " Supplices " (211 IT.), and he is 
certaii/y not the medium of the poet's thought. Plis own thought 
on the subject finds expression in nearly all his tragedies. Un- 
sparingly he attacks the "ambitious breed" of soothsayers, who 
a'-<^ impostors, and whose art is a lying art. And his attacks 
upon oracles and divination arc made the more effective by pre- 
senting the oracle-god himself in the most shameful light. It is, 
however, not only the worthless and doubtful character of the 
seers themselves that provokes Euripides to assail the diviners. 
The basic principle of his attack must be sought in the poet's 
conception of divination in general. See Hel. 744 fi. ; I. A. 957 ; 
fr. 793 ; 963. The knowledge to read the thoughts of the Gods is 
not within the reach of mortals. Those who pretend to possess 
this knowledge deceive people by their talk. The inscrutable 
ways of Heaven are past finding out and therefore divination 
cannot reveal them. It is at this point that Euripides is prin- 
cipally at variance with his predecessors as far as divination is 
concerned. 

The same spirit of the free-thinker, in contrast with the two 
older dramatists, is revealed in Euripides' handling of dreams 
and z'isiois. Tiic belief in the divine and prophetic character of 
dreams and visions is universal throughout Greek literature. In 
Homer the sender of dreams is Zeus. II. II, 4 ft. ^-Eschylus 


The Supernatural in the Tragedies of Euripides 97 

believed that in sleep the human mind is open to influences which 
in waking moments are denied : 

Eum. 104-5 : 

ei'dovcra yap 4>pr)v omxacnv \aixTvphvtTaL, 
kv fifxkpa 5e ixolp' air poa 1(0110% pporicv. 

" For oft in sleep comes light upon the soul, 
But in the day their fate is hid from men." 

He also includes the discovery of the rules of oneiromancy among 
the important things for which mankind are indebted to Pro- 
metheus (485). Euripides following the traditional belief em- 
ploys dreams and visions in his dramas. Their usage was too 
well established and they were also too convenient to be given up 
altogether. He introduces them especially where a pathetic or 
serious efifect is aimed at in tragedy, but at the same time he 
leaves no doubt as to his own opinion about dreams and visions. 
In his eyes they belong not to the world of reality, but to the 
world of illusion. \Miatever warrant of truth they have lies in 
their native power of attraction and in the response which they 
call out from unprejudiced feeling. Dreams and visions accord- 
ing to Euripides are natural phenomena without any superna- 
tural background; see.L T. 569, 570-75; Or. 255; Ale. 252 ff. 

All his life Euripides had been deeply perplexed on the subject 
of the supernatural, and he found himself no nearer to the truth 
at the end than he was at the beginning. It has often been main- 
tained that towards the close of his life he has drawn nearer to 
the religion of his fathers. The only monument of this alleged 
change is that remarkable play, the " Bacchse " which has been 
considered a recantation, or at least an attempt on the part of the 
poet "to put himself right with the public in matters on which he 
had been misunderstood " (J. E. Sandys, The Bacchse of Euripi- 
des, Introd., p. Ixxxi). That this play written in the home of 
Dionysus, whose worship was intimately connected with the 
origin and development of the Greek drama, deals predominantly 
with religious matters, such as the Dionysiac possession, divine 
madness, and enthusiasm, is only natural. But despite the re- 
ligious character of the play the handling of the supernatural as 


98 Ernest Hcinrich Klotsche 

illustrated in prayer and divination in the "Bacchae" is in keep- 
ing with the poet's general attitude toward the supernatural. 
Even if we accept the view held by C. H. IMoore and James Adam 
that Dionysus in the play " stands for the spirit of enthusiasm 
in the ancient Greek meaning of the word," and " that the prin- 
cipal lesson of the drama is to be found in the words : Not zvith 
knoivledge is zinsdojii bought (395), that is, there is something 
stronger and greater than reason in the life of man, namely en- 
thusiasm, inspiration," — the indisputable fact still remains that 
our poet even in the " Bacchse " relapses into the old iconoclastic 
manner. 

Euripides marks a transition-period. He stands between tra- 
ditional belief, which still retained its hold over the minds of the 
common people, and modern thought, which had already awak- 
ened and enlightened the minds of many thinking men. He has 
not altogether thrown off the shackles of tradition, nor has he 
stepped into the freedom of a new belief. Himself a tragic poet 
and an advanced and philosophical thinker he is at a double dis- 
advantage. Constrained by the unwritten laws of Greek tragedy 
he could not sever all connection with the past. Like his prede- 
cessors he had to take the subjects for his plays from the myths 
and heroic legends, but in contrast with the two older tragedians 
he used his themes as the old forms which he filled with a new 
spirit. He had to put new wine into old bottles. 

But the new wine bursts the outworn bottles. H we consider 
that Euripides for nearly half a century presented, before all 
Athens in the theatre, again and again, his modern conceptions 
of the supernatural, it is out of question that he helped hurry to 
complete overthrow the falling superstition of Olympus and 
thus contributed even more than the sophists to the dissolution of 
the ancient beliefs. In this negative or destructive aspect of his 
teaching Euripides closely resembles the great satirist of the sec- 
ond century A.D., Lucian of Samosata, who far more openly than 
Euripides professes the scorn of irrational belief and unsparingly 
drives the pagan Gods from their thrones in the minds of think- 
ing men. But the Church — strange to say ! — did not consider him 
an ally but an enemy of Christianity, who, according to Suidas, in 


The Supernatural in the Tragedies of Euripides 99 

the everlasting hell-fire along with Satan shall suffer for the 
harm he has done the cause of Christ ; while the destructive teach- 
ing of Euripides beguiled some of the Fathers of the Church to 
the point of believing that he was a sort of forerunner of Chris- 
tianity. 

As regards the positive or constructive side of Euripides' con- 
ceptions of the supernatural he offers no decided or settled con- 
victions, but " he raises," as James Adam says, " nearly all the 
fundamental questions which men will always ask and never fully 
answer." He presents problems rather than principles, ^schy- 
lus sets forth the operation of great principles. Sophocles por- 
trays great characters. Euripides presents great problems. With 
a higher type of the supernatural than that of the traditional 
mythology constantly in view he calls the attention of his fellow- 
men to the imperfections of the customary belief in order to goad 
them to reflection. 

Euripides is one of the great religious poets of the world, and 
it is only right and proper that James Adam in his " Religious 
Teachers of Greece " dedicated an entire chapter to our poet. 
He is even more than this : not only a religious poet whose mind, 
like a mirror, reflects the religious ideas of his time, but also a 
prophet whose message proclaims the morning of a new era. 


Ernest Hcinrich Kloischc 


Play 


References to the Prayers, Curses, Oaths, Oracles, Prophe- 
cies, Dreams, and Visions in the Tragedies and 
Fragments of Euripides 


Page 


Prayers 


Curses 


Oracles Proph. 


Dreams 


Visions 


Ale. 


Medea. 


Hipp. 


Hecuba . 


25 


29 


32 

33 

143 

34 
35 


163-69 
213-25 


149 ff. 

332 

516-19 
1251-60 
1405-07 


61-62 
73-87 
114-20 
1092-94 
1373-76 
1391-93 
1060-61 

1363-69 
1325-30 


144-48 
160-65 


1327-29 


12-14 


492-95 
439-40 
1391-92 
731-32 
735-36 
752-53 
754-55 1 
206-10' 
619 I 
21-22I 
412-13I 


679-81 


682-86 

887 ff. 

44 ff. 

1173 ff- 

1191-93 

141S 


612 

656-58 
1062-63 
1306-09 

713-14 


65-69 


42-58 


1055-56 
1057-59 


612 


252-63 


68-7f 
90 ff. 


The Supernatural hi the Tragedies of Euripides loi 


IxDEx OF References to the Prayers, Curses, Oaths, Oracles, Prophe- 
cies, Dreams, and Visions in the Tragedies and 
Fragments of Euripides 


Play 


Page 


Prayers 


Curses 


Oaths 


Oracles 


Pi-oph. Dreams Visions 


Hecuda 


Andr. 


Ion. 


Suppl. 


Heracl. 


II. F. 


36 

37 

38 

121 

39 
40 

42 
43 
44 
45 

'46' 
47 


48 
49 

SO 
SI 


52 

S3 

54 
55 
56 
57 
58 
59 

60 

61 


79-80 

96-97 
488-91 
534 ff. 


900 
1009-16 


128 ff. 

436-51 

384 ff. 
1619-21 

410-12 
1048 ff. 

452 ff. 


1-7 
628-30 


734-36 

260-62 

1227-31 


869-72 

798 ff. 

339-47 

497-502 
1127-28 

888-90 
1307-10 

847-54 
820-21 
490-96 


1261 ff. 


451-53 


1161-65 


365-67 
407-09 
787-88 
1534-36 
1537-38 
1537-38 
1556-58 


1227-31 
1232-35 


403-09 
1226-29 


1267 


702-06 


374-77 


211-13 
155 


516-18 


I02 


Ernest Heinrich Klotschc 


Index of References to the Prayers, Curses, Oaths, Oracles, Prophe- 
cies, Dreams, and Visions in the Tragedies and 
Fragments of Euripides 


Play 

Page 

Prayers 

Curses 

Oaths 1 Oracles i Proph. Dreams j Visions 

H.F 

I. T 

141 

62 
63 

'64' 

490-01 

270-74 
1082-88 ' 
1398-1402 
1230-33 

535 
277-78 

747-52 

' 


65 
66 

1475-76 





1076-77 


67 
68 





77-94 

105 

118 

711-15 

723 
1012-15 
1438-42 

. : 18 ff. 













69 










70 

71 
72 

73 














42 ff. 42 ff. 
348-49 
569 












74 




570-75 
1259 ff. 
1277-83 
1251-58 

353-460 








75 
76 

78 
79 

80' 

81 

84 
85 

86 

87' 
89 










Treacles. . . . 




353-460 

Helen 

469-71 
1280-81 
1060 ff. 

884-88 

889 

1093 ff. 

1584-87 

I 44 1-5 I 
855-56 
962 ff. 

1028-29 



744-57 744-57 
819 819 
861-62 1 861-62 
887 ff. 1 887 ff. 

1 







1 

569 




1 

119 


90 



: 977-79 

- 835-41 

348 ff. 










Phan 

91 

84-87 
182 ff. 
190-92 




The Supeniatural in ihc Tragedies of Euripides 103 


Index of Rkferences to the Prayers, Curses, Oaths, Oracles, Prophe- 
cies, Dreams, and Visions in the Tragedies and 
Fragments of Euripides 


Play 

Page 

Prayers 

Curses 

Oaths 

Oracles 

Proph. 1 Dreams 

Visions 

Phoen 

92 

92 
93 

586-87 
365-68 
[373-76 

67-68 
474-75 
624 

[425-26 
1608-14 

433-34 
481-83 
491-93 
626-27 



[721-22 
6x8 














94 
95 









1597-99 
1703. 1705 
640-42 
409, 411 
901-14 

766 

838-40 

854-58 

954-59' 

971 

362 ff. 








96 









97 











98 











99 
100 

lOI 

102 

103 
103 
104 












Electra 

194-97 ' 

198-200 

201 

563-65 

566 

671-83 

771 ■ 



87-89 
399-400 

1296-97 
971-73 

1190-96 

28-31 

76 

162-64 

275-76 

414 ff. 

591-96 

1666-67 

1680-81 

















105 
106 
107 

1190-96 

796-97 
1225 ff. 
1240-43 
I299-I3OO 




Orestes 

130-31 

1516-17 







108 

















109 











IIO 
HI 






^ 



255-57 








258-59 


112 

I113 








311-15 

I. A 



.390 ff. 






104 


Ernest Heinrich Klotsche 


Index of Referexces to the Prayers, Curses, Oaths, Oracles, Prophe- 
cies, Dreams, and Visions in the Tragedies and 
Fragments of Euripides 


Play 


Page Prayers 


Curses Oaths Oracles j Proph. 


Dreams Visions 


I. A. 


Bacchae. 


Cj'clops. . 


Fragm. 


114 

"5 i 


116 


126 


126 
127 


128 


129 
130 
131 


66-67 

57-65 

395-96 

473 ff. 

948-50 


370 ff. 

414-15 
I 550 ff. 
J1012-23 

1344-49 


118 

119 
120 
121 
122 

123 350-55 
375-76 

124 I 599-607 


123 
132 
177 
705 
867 
596 
869 
938 
904 
1 104 

1094 
326 


261 
268-69 


534-35! 


262 ff. 


520-21 

956 

957-58 


1330 ff. ; 
298-99: 

2 55-571 


336 


277 


491 
1020 


875 
485 
963 
793 


The Supernatural in the Tragedies of Euripides 105 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Adam, J. The Religious Teachers of Greece. 1909. 

Aristotle's Poetics. 

Bayfield, M. A. The Ion of Euripides. 1889. 

Beckwith, I. T. Euripides' Bacchantes. 1885. 

Bergk, T. Griechisclic Literaturgeschichte. 4 vols., 1872-94. 

Bouche-Leclerque, A. Histoire de la divination dans I'antiquite. 4 vols. 

Campbell, L. Religion in Greek Literature. 1898. 

Cicero. De Natura Deorum. 

Cicero. De Divinatione. 

Croiset, A. et M. Histoire de la literature grecque. 5 vols., 1887-99. 

Decharme, P. Euripide et I'esprit de son theatre. 1893. English trans- 
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Donaldson, J. W. The Theatre of the Greeks. 1875. 

Encyclopaedia Britannica. nth ed. Articles on Euripides and Greek 
Literature. 

Earle, M. L. Euripides' Alcestis. 1894. 

England, E. B. The Iphigenia among the Tauri of Euripides. 1883. 

Fairbanks. A. Handbook of Greek Religion. 1910. 

Farnell, L. R. The Cults of the Greek States. 5 vols., 1896-1907. 

Flagg, I. Euripides' Iphigetiia among the Taurians. 1899. 

Girard, J. Le sentiment religieux an Grece. 3d ed., 1887. 

Gompez, T. Greichische Denker. 3 vols., 2d ed., 1903-09. English trans- 
lation : Greek Thinkers. 

Haigh, A. E. The Tragic Drama of the Greeks. 1896. 

Haigh, A. E. The Attic Theatre. 2d ed., 1898. 

Halliday, W. R. Greek Divination. 

Harry, J. E. Euripides Hippolytus. 1899. 

Hayley, H. W. The Alcestis of Euripides. 1898. 

Heberden, C. B. Euripides' Medea. 1886. 

Hellenica. Edited by E. Abbott. Essays on yEschylus, Sophocles, and 
Greek Oracles. 1880. 

Hyslop, A. R. F. The Andromaclie of Euripides. 1900. 

Jebb, R. C. Classical Greek Poetry. 1894. 

Lectures on Greek Literature. Delivered at Columbia University, 1912. 

Mahaffy, J. P. History of Classical Greek Literature. 3d ed., 1891. 

Moore, C. H. The Religious Thought of the Greeks. 1916. 

Moore. G. F. History of Religions. 1914. 

Moultcn, R. G. The Ancient Classical Drama. 1890. 

Miiller, K. O. Literature of Ancient Greece. 

Murray, G. Euripides and his Age. 

Murray, G. The Trojan Women of Euripides. 1915. 

Nauck, A. Euripides Tragcedis. Teubner Series. 2 vols., 1895. 


io6 Ernest HcinricJi Klotschc 

Nauck, A. Euripides Perditarum Tragoediarum Fragmenta. Tcubner 

Scries. 1892. 
Nestle, W. Euripides der Dichter der griechischen Aufkliiruug. 1902. 
Packard. L. R. Studies in Greek Thought. 1886. 
Paley, F. A. Euripides, with an EngHsh Commentary. 3 vols.. 2d ed., 

1R72. 
Patin, M. f2tude sur les tragiques grecs. 3 vols., 1861. 
Plutarch. De Pythio Oraculo, and De Defectu Oraculorum. 
Sandys, J. E. The Bacchse of Euripides. 1885. 
Schlegel, A. W. von. Lectures on Dramatic Art and Literature. (Eng- 

lisli translation.) 
Tyrrell. R. Y. The Troades of Euripides. 1897. 
Vaschide, N., and Pieron, H. Prophetic Dreams in Greek and Roman 

Antiquity. Tr. by T. J. McCormack. (Monist, XI, 161-194.) 
Verrall, A. W. Euripides the Rationalist. 1895. 
Verrall, A. W. Essays on fotir plays of Euripides. 1905. 
Verrall, A. W. The Bacchantes of Euripides. 1908. 
Way, A. S. Euripides with an English Translation. 4 vols.. 1912. 
Whitmore, C. E. The Supernatural in Tragedy. 1915. 
Whibley, L. A Companion to Greek Studies. 1905. 


The Snpcniatitral in the Tragedies of liuripidcs 107 


VITA AUCTORIS 

Ernest Heinrich Klotsche, born August 7, 1875, at Elstra, 
Saxony; visited public school, in Elstra, 1882-90; Fortbildungs- 
schule (High School), 1890-93; took private lessons in Latin, 
Greek, and Music, 1888-93 ; entered the Foreign IMission Semi- 
nary (Collegium der ev. luth. Mission) at Leipzig, 1893; finished 
the humanistic course (gymnasial course), with English compul- 
sory and French elective, 1896; finished the theological course, 
with Hebrew inclusive, 1899; took the beginner's and advanced 
course in Tamil, 1898-99; studied music besides: violin, pipe 
organ, and theory of music, 1893-99; was employed as assistant 
pastor in Detern, Prov. Hannover, 1899-1900; ordained for the 
ministry by the Royal Superintendent O. Pank, D.D., Leipzig, 
June 3, 1900; sent to India as missionary; passed the prescribed 
examination in Tamil, 1902; married February 3, 1903; studied 
Sanskrit with two Brahmin teachers, January, 1901, to July, 1903. 
Suffering from the consequences of a sunstroke he had to leave 
the tropical climate ; came to America in September, 1903 ; was 
pastor in South Dakota till 1907, in Nebraska till 1913; took the 
first papers of citizenship in 1904, the second papers August 28, 
1909; in 1913 he accepted a call as theological professor in the 
Martin Luther Seminary, 2840 Sumner St., where he teaches, 
besides theology, Hebrew, Latin, German, and music. Since 
1914 he has been a student of the University of Nebraska. In 
1 91 6 he took a summer course (eleven weeks) in Greek and 
French at the University of Chicago. He took his master's de- 
gree in the University of Nebraska in 1916. 


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FORM NO. DD6 


UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA. BERKELEY 
BERKELEY, CA 94720-6000 


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U.C.BERKELEY LIBRARIES 



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